Several political parties have stated that they will not reappoint individuals who are under investigation for vote manipulation or who showed negligence during the last electoral process. However, Central Election Commission (CEC) rules only prohibit individuals with a final court conviction, not those who are under investigation.
Representatives of political parties have declared that for the 7 June elections they will not appoint as polling commissioners persons who are under investigation for vote manipulation or who, according to them, did not show sufficient care during the previous electoral process.
The contesting parties have already begun submitting names of commissioners to the Central Election Commission platform, where they will undergo verification for compliance with legal criteria.
According to CEC regulations, individuals who have been convicted by a final court decision within the last three years cannot be appointed to this role. However, there is no criterion that prohibits the inclusion of persons under investigation.
Paris Guri, a former MP of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), said his party has decided not to include individuals suspected of electoral violations.
“There is a decision that all those who have been under investigation, involved, even though the Democratic League of Kosovo had the smallest number of vote manipulations, but I was the most affected in the Democratic League of Kosovo, however the LDK has decided that none of them will be commissioners again,” Guri said.
In the last parliamentary elections held on 28 December 2025, the recount process revealed interference in around 150,000 votes for parliamentary candidates during the initial counting.
In January and February, hundreds of commissioners were arrested or interviewed over suspicions of manipulation. However, so far only one indictment has been filed for violations in the electoral process of 28 December.
Among the candidates most affected by manipulation is former Democratic Party MP Mërgim Lushtaku.
He says he requested from his party that individuals under investigation should not be appointed as commissioners, and according to him, this request was approved.
“The party’s position is to protect everyone’s vote… No, absolutely not, I know this from my information, meaning we requested that if they had problems with the process they would not be commissioners,” Lushtaku said.
Meanwhile, the secretary of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Alim Rama, said the criterion will not be whether a commissioner is under investigation, but how they performed their duties at the polling station.
“All those who were not at the level of duty, meaning the stations where they were, the tables. In our case it was often due to negligence, lack of care, and all those who showed lack of care will not be there anymore. There is no need for investigations, I look at tables where there was lack of care, we have done internal analyses,” Rama said.
According to the CEC Activity Plan, the appointment of polling station council members, which also includes commissioners, was supposed to be completed last Friday. However, members of the Commission told KOHA that the process is expected to be finalized by the end of this week.
