At the meeting of the Central Election Commission (CEC), there was a clash between members of the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Vetevendosje Movement regarding the approval of the additional budget for local elections.
CEC member from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Ilir Gashi, said that the lack of budget approval by the Government could negatively affect the organization of the elections.
“I have a question for you, time is running out and the budget has not yet been approved by the government and I think you should communicate, because the rapid non-approval of the budget jeopardizes some electoral operations, especially in the diaspora. Failure to allocate the budget on time could jeopardize the implementation of these operations,” said Gashi.
Meanwhile, CEC member from the Vetëvendosje Movement, Alban Krasniqi, responded to Gashi by saying that it is not true that the government has not allocated the budget. According to him, the issue lies in the additional budget requests.
“It is not true that the government has not allocated a budget. The government has allocated it for all the requests we have had. The issue is about additional budget requests, which we ourselves as an institution have not planned,” said Krasniqi.
After this, Gashi addressed Krasniqi, telling him that “you are not a government spokesperson.”
“I, Hekuran Murat, asked a question here. I’m treating it as a concern. You’re not a government spokesperson,” said Gashi.
On the other hand, Krasniqi referred to Gashi, saying that he is misinforming the public.
“Saying that the government has not allocated a budget is not true. I must admit that you misinformed the public. The government has allocated this budget since last year. With the certain media outlets that you have, you have misinformed the public,” Krasniqi continued.
In addition, the CEC meeting decided to appoint 216 members of the Municipal Election Commissions in 38 municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo, who represent various political entities.
CEC member Arianit Elshani announced that all members have gone through legal procedures for this process.
The meeting highlighted that two coalitions have been declared for the local elections on October 12, while five parties have withdrawn from the race.
“Koalicija Vakat”, composed of the political parties Demokratska Stranka Bošnjaka (DSB) and Demokratska Stranka Vatan (DSV) and the “SDU-NASA (NASA SDU)” Coalition, composed of the political parties Socijaldemokratska Unija and Nasa Inicijativa, formed only for the municipality of Prizren.
Meanwhile, the political parties that will not compete in the October 12 elections are the Democratic National Front Organization, the Democratic Party of the Diaspora, the Justice Party, the Kosovar Nevi Romani Party, and the Balliste Party./kp/