The LSI has filed a complaint at the Electoral College against a decision of the Central Election Commission (KQZ) to divide the third seat on the Vote Counting Groups (GNV) between the LSI and the PDIU.
The complaint of the LSI will be judged by Lindita Sinanaj, Gjin Gjoni, Tomor Shkreli, Shkëlqim Mustafa, and Sotiraq Lubonja.
What are GNVs?
GNVs are installed 10 days before Election Day and consist of 4 members: the first counter, the secretary, and two members.
In the case the number of 4 members isn’t met, the GNV is allowed to operate with at least 2 members. There are two GNVs per counting table.
GNVs are numbered with ordinal numbers and always end with an even number. One group counts at least the votes of 5 voting centers, and not more than 10 voting centers.
Two of the GNV member are proposed by respectively the chair and deputy chair of the Local Election Administration Commission (KZAZ). According to the Electoral Code, the chair and deputy chair of the KZAZ are proposed respectively by the PS and the PD.
The political party that determines the chair of the KZAZ, in this case the PS, proposes the first counter and secretary of the odd-numbered GNVs.
The political party that determines the deputy chair of the KZAZ, in this case the PD, proposes the first counter and secretary of the even-numbered GNVs.
The other two members of the GNV are determined by the other political parties belonging to the majority and the opposition, respectively, except the two leading parties in each.
According to Electoral Code art. 95(2) the third GNV member is selected by the majority, and the fourth by the opposition.
Which parties from the majority and opposition are allowed to chose those third and fourth members respectively is determined by the KQZ by lot.
What does the LSI want?
Basing itself on Electoral Code art. 96(1), the LSI claims that being the only other party in the governmental coalition – according to the 2013 coalitions – it has the sole right to determine the third members of the GNVs.
The LSI argues that because the PDIU was part of the opposition coalition in 2013, it formally does not count as a majority party, even though it joined the government in 2015. It should therefore be counted as an opposition party, and together with the PR determine the fourth member of the GNV.
Is the KQZ right?
During the local elections in 2015, the PDIU made the same complaint against the KQZ, arguing that having been part of the opposition coalition it should be counted for the fourth GNV member. In such a scenario, the government parties LSI, PS, and PDIU would practically control 2.5 out of 4 GNV members.
Now that the LSI is combating its coalition partner and the PD in the elections, it makes the same argument as the PDIU in 2015, trying to prevent its 1 member in the GNV being cut again in half by the PDIU.
However, the Electoral College ruled on June 8, 2015, that since the PDIU had formally entered the government coalition, it should be counted as such, despite the fact that in 2013 it campaigned as part of the PD coalition. Therefore it seems that the current comlaint of the LSI will have little chance of being successful.
