The head of Central Election Commission of Kosovo (CEC), Valdete Daka has stated that accusations from political parties are an interference in her work, without giving details about any specific case.
During a press conference, on Thursday, Daka said that public threats against her and the concerns they cause to her family are “dangerous and unprecedented”.
She did not mention any specific party or politician, but the statement comes one day after CEC notified political parties about their MP candidates who did not meet the criteria to run on snap parliamentary elections.
A ruling of the Constitutional Court stated earlier that no person convicted with a final verdict by a Kosovo court in the last three years may be sworn in and serve as an MP. The Law on Elections also stipulates the same.
Daka said that she is going to implement the law and the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
“To all the candidates who yesterday saw themselves in the list of the Kosovo Judicial Council as persons who do not meet the criteria to be certified as a candidate for MP, I will say only two words in short, in Albanian, clearly; is the law and the verdict of the Constitutional Court that banns them from running, and not me,” she said.
She added that those who think are being wrongly banned, can complain to the Election Complaint and Appeal Panel or the Supreme Court.
Exit News reported on Wednesday that the leader of the largest party, Vetevendosje, Albin Kurti was among 47 banned from running in the February 14 elections.
Albin Kurti was leading Vetevendosje’s election list as its candidate for prime minister.
Asked from journalists to comment on the decision, Kurti said that Vetevendosje’s list remains the one they submitted to CEC.
“I am a list holder who strictly respects the Constitution and the laws that protect the rights of all of us and each of us,” he told media.
On Wednesday evening, the former foreign minister from Vetevendosje, Glauk Konjufca accused CEC of willing to “politically eliminate” Kurti.
While earlier during the day, former minister of Justice in the government led by Kurti, Albulena Haxhiu said that these were “the last efforts of those who captured the state.”
Haxhiu’s name is also reported to be among those candidates who cannot be certified.
Kurti and Haxhiu were convicted in 2018 for throwing tear gas in Parliament in protest against border demarcation with Montenegro. Vetevendosje claimed that Kosovo lost territory. They protested in the same way against the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities.
