Voting in the Diaspora: Is there a risk of manipulation in the transportation of electoral envelopes?

Lirim Krasniqi from the non-governmental organization GERMIN commented on the process of transporting and verifying election materials from Kosovo's diplomatic missions in the diaspora.

On February 8, in 19 different countries around the world, mainly in Europe, but also in the United States of America and Canada, 20 citizens of Kosovo who have selected this voting method during registration will be able to vote from 324:07 to 00:19, according to the local time of the respective country.

Krasniqi said that the CEC's "ad-hoc organization" for transporting election materials is a problem, as the process foreseen to carry out the transportation by an external company has not been implemented.

However, Krasniqi added that the transportation process from diplomatic missions to the Results Counting Center in Fushë Kosovë is safe to some extent.

He emphasized that there are no additional guarantees that will ensure a process free of manipulation.

"The only problem is the transportation from the diplomatic missions in Kosovo. Because this process was supposed to be done by an external company, which would be contracted by the CEC. However, in this case it is an ad-hoc organization of the CEC to transport the election materials and ballots. From the moment the ballots are withdrawn through the diplomatic missions to the Counting and Results Center in Fushë Kosovë, this is the safest possible process."

"Each box and bag with electoral materials has a security element with a unique code. The code is obtained as soon as the voting centers in the diaspora close. And the only way to verify it is that when they arrive in Kosovo, they are verified to see if it is the same unique code as the one at the time of closing. If there is a mismatch of codes in the ballot boxes when they arrive in Kosovo, according to CEC rules they should be declared invalid. However, beyond this, there is no additional guarantee that could ensure that the process is not violated," Krasniqi added.

On TV Dukagjini, Krasniqi commented on a case that occurred in Croatia, where the absence of representatives of the Central Election Commission (CEC) was noted during the withdrawal of election materials.

According to Krasniqi, it was embassy staff who carried out the withdrawal of the envelopes without the presence of the CEC - which will affect the validity of the ballots, as they could be declared invalid the moment they arrive in Kosovo.

"The case with Croatia was a problem, which did not comply with the CEC rules for the withdrawal of electoral materials. So, CEC representatives were absent at the moment when several envelopes with ballots were withdrawn. However, it is not as presented in the media, since it is not the ambassador who does this work. It was the embassy staff in this case that withdrew several envelopes, without the presence of the CEC. And it is very likely that those ballots that were received in that way at the embassy in Croatia will be declared invalid when they arrive in Kosovo," said Krasniqi.