What did the CEC find?

If Kosovo's citizens and institutions have boasted about anything abroad, it has been the organization and smooth running of electoral processes over the years - regardless of who won.

But not this time. Not with the same enthusiasm, at least.

Discontent has also grown due to the fact that, unlike in recent years, when elections were held ahead of schedule and the Central Election Commission (CEC) had only a little over a month to make all the preparations, this time the February 9 elections were regular, and the CEC had six months to ensure that everything would go smoothly.

The downfall of the CEC's server and official website on election day, delays in counting votes for parliamentary candidates, problems with purchasing cameras, and lack of proper staff training are just some of the problems that have arisen along the way, which, as some say, have diminished the credibility of the entire process.

The CEC has justified the delayed start of the vote count, saying that the new counting process – as provided for in the new Election Law – is complex and that the institution is going through it for the first time.

Who is to blame?

Non-governmental organizations that have monitored the electoral process point the finger at the CEC.

Their network, Democracy in Action (DnV), has assessed that server problems have created confusion and reduced public confidence in the transparency of the process.

The DnV has also cited delays in approving the composition of the Municipal Election Commissions (MECs), and in the tendering process and the use of matriculation as a method for identifying voters.

Opposition parties blame the government.

AAK's candidate for prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, has said that the fact that the preliminary election results were not known even after 24 hours, "for the first time in the history of Kosovo, is a direct consequence of the replacement of professional staff with party militants, and the engagement of information technology companies through dubious single-source tenders."

The Kosovo government has said that it is not responsible for the CEC's servers, and that the software was donated to the CEC by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), while it has considered the accusations against the executive branch a low-level attempt "to cause confusion, with the aim of reducing trust in the electoral process and its results."

The Cacttus company, which has been contracted to develop the software for the CEC's Counting and Results Center (CNR), has said, through its legal representative, Arian Koci, that the application is located on government infrastructure, which is managed by the Information Society Agency (ASHI), and that security, combating cybercrime, but also the functioning of the site, are the responsibility of the state agency.

Training one day before the elections

The European Union mission, which monitored the process, also criticized the conduct of the elections.

"The CEC has faced significant delays in preparation, both technically and administratively. Difficulties in the procurement process have hindered the purchase of technical equipment for polling stations, the preparation of voter education materials, as well as logistical operations for the distribution of election materials," the EU mission said in a statement issued on February 11.

The head of a polling station in Pristina – who did not want to be identified – described the process of counting votes for MPs to Radio Free Europe as chaotic, also citing the problem of inadequate staff training, “with 500 people in a hall, without microphones, just one day before the elections.”

His statements are in line with the EU mission's response: "The quality of the training sessions for staff at polling stations has been outstanding. While most of them have been informative and interactive, in some cases, key issues, such as the new regulation on assisted voting, the roles of commissioners and counting procedures, have not been addressed in a uniform manner, resulting in their inconsistent implementation on election day."

Prosecution Investigations

Former CEC officials, with whom Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty spoke, have expressed regret for these omissions in the process, and have blamed the institution's leadership for this situation.

According to them, new officials seem to have had a tendency to eliminate any previous practice, regardless of whether it worked.

Some have also spoken critically about the absence of the CEC chairman, Kreshnik Radoniqi, in statements to the media.

The Basic Prosecution Office in Pristina has confirmed to Radio Free Europe that it has requested from the CEC the necessary information to verify whether there are elements of the commission of a criminal offense.

The CEC itself said on February 12 that it had called on the State Prosecutor's Office and other security institutions to clarify the situation and provide technical support, while assuring that, despite this entire situation, the integrity of the vote has not been violated and that the results will be accurate.

Even former CEC officials have said that it is indeed difficult to manipulate votes, but the downside of all this is the loss of citizens' trust in the electoral process.