ELECTORAL RULES OF OEBS

Central Electoral Committee announced the rules for general elections on Kosovo on 2nd August.

According to the rules, a polling place will be an area 100 metres far from the entrance into the building where a polling place is located. Only voters will be allowed to be present at the polling place, as well as the members of the committee of the polling place, the international supervisor of the polling place and the staff of the polling centre. The officials of UNMIK and OEBS, members of Central electoral committee, members of the local electoral committee, accredited monitors and officially accredited representatives of the media will also be allowed to participate.

Political parties, citizens' initiatives, coalitions and candidates have to remove all the material of the electoral campaign which can be found 100 metres from the polling place or centre, not later than 24 hours prior to the beginning of the voting.

The voting procedure

Polling places will be opened from 7 am to 7 pm. The voters who at the time of closing happen to be at the polling place will be allowed to vote. The voters who come after 7 pm will not be allowed to vote. According to the rules, Central electoral committee can, in consultation with the Director of the executive organs of the elections from OEBS, change the time of opening or closing of the certain polling places if it is of the interest in the very electoral procedure.

A poling place can't have more than 750 voters, it mustn't be located in a religious object, in the building owned by a political subject, the building which has been used as a place for torture and abuse, or on the premises where alcohol is served and consumed.

Every voter has to vote in person. The secrecy of voting will be ensured by setting the screens for voting. Nobody would be able to hinder a voter at the polling place who is filling his ballot paper, nor to try to get any information related to a political party, a coalition, a citizens' initiative or an independent candidate.

In order to avoid fraud, every voter will be examined with a special lamp before entering the polling place in order to check if he has a stain from invisible ink. The voter who has a stain from the invisible ink will not be allowed to enter the polling place. The photographs of all voters will be printed beside their names on the voting register unless the Director of the executive organs of the elections from OEBS made a different decision.

The voters' identity can be confirmed:
-by a voter's photograph beside his name on the final voting register
-by showing UNMIK identity card or
-by showing some other document containing the voter's photograph

If a member of the committee cannot determine the identity of the voter with any of the anticipated methods, then he should send him to the help stand where the staff will decide whether the voter is registered in the voting list. If it is determined that the voter can't be found in the voting register, the staff of the help stand will ask the voter to come back with an acceptable identification document.

The voter who is not registered in the voting list will still be able to vote with an acceptable identification document (with a photograph), but his ballot paper will be put aside and packed in a separate envelope. The basic data of that voter will be included in the conditional register which will be formed during the election day in the voting register. Conditional ballot papers will be subjected to a special procedure and accepted as valid if "the conditional voter" is found in the final voting register.

After the voter has been duly identified and after signing in the voting register, the detector for the invisible ink will be applied on him (a special lamp with ultraviolet light), in order to prevent one voter from voting several times. A stain from ink will be placed on a finger of every voter before he/she is given his/her ballot paper. The voter who doesn't allow to take a stain from ink on his finger won't be allowed to vote. The invisible ink will be put on the ball of the forefinger of the voter's right hand. If the voter doesn't have a forefinger, the ink will be placed on the thumb, or on the third, fourth or fifth finger. If the voter doesn't have the right hand, the same order will be used on the left hand. If the voter doesn't have hands at all, the request concerning the ink will be abolished. The voter will be required to hold his hand in the air until the ink dries up.

After the voter gets the invisible ink, a member of the electoral committee will certify the back of the ballot paper with an official seal and give the ballot paper to the voter.

Invalid ballot papers

If the voter makes his ballot paper invalid, he can obtain a new ballot paper from the committee, if he first returns the invalid one. After that a member of the commission will examine the word "invalid" on the returned invalid ballot paper and place it in an envelope "an invalid ballot paper" and then he will give the voter a valid ballot paper.

Voting of persons in special circumstances

Persons who have a right to vote, but are at the places where their freedom of movement is limited (prisons, hospitals and the similar institutions) or who are in any other way prevented from voting due to fear or physical incapacity and since their coming to the polling place is impossible, they can vote before the election day in accordance with the procedure of the Director of the executive organs of elections from OEBS. The same rule goes for the employees such as OEBS's election clerks or in security and health services who are prevented from coming to the polling place or centre.

Voting outside of Kosovo

The ballot papers sent by mail and received till midnight before the election day in Kosovo will be counted. The ballot papers sent by mail after the deadline will not be counted. In order to be counted, the ballot paper sent by mail has to be sent by a person who has a right to vote, it needs to be in a sealed envelope in order to ensure the secrecy of voting, it needs to be sent together with the confirmation about the voter's registration and with a photocopy of the acceptable document when it is required by administrative procedures.

OEBS's International supervisor of the polling place

In every polling place or in the centre for counting of votes there will be at least one OEBS's international supervisor who will assume complete responsibility for the voting procedure in the polling place or in the polling centre, who will take care of the application of electoral rules of Central electoral committee and administrative procedures of OEBS and he will monitor the process in order to prevent any irregularities. That person will keep a record about any important events in a separate book on the voting procedure in the polling station.

Safety at the polling place

Carrying weapons will not be allowed at the polling place, unless the international supervisor of OEBS or the Chairman of the committee of the polling place asks the security/police for help.

OEBS, the International supervisor of OEBS or Central electoral committee can stop the voting process at the polling place when a serious violation of electoral rules or administrative procedures occurs.

Complaints

Complaints about the voting procedure has to be handed over to the electoral sub-committee for complaints within 24 hours after the complainant becomes familiar with the alleged violation of electoral rules or administrative procedures, but in no way later than 48 hours after the occurrence of the alleged violation.

Every complain has to be fully and finally solved within five days after it is received by the electoral subcommittee for complaints and appeals.

Counting of votes

The votes will be counted at the polling places in Kosovo right after the voting takes place. According to the rules of the Central electoral committee, all other ballot papers will be counted in the Centre for counting and results, which was founded by the Director of the executive organs of the elections from OEBS in Kosovo.

According to the rules, only in the exceptional cases, such as the concern for the safety of voters or the safety of the ballot papers, the Director of the executive organs of the elections from OEBS can, with the consent of the Central electoral committee, order that the votes from the polling place should be counted in the Centre for counting and results.

The counting of the paper ballots in the Centre for counting will not begin before 7 pm, when the polling places close.

Tomorrow the elections in Kosovo

Belgrade, November 16th - The elections will be held in Kosovo where more than 1.25 million people with the right to vote will be able to elect 120 deputies in the future Kosovo Assembly. The voters will be able to vote at 1.668 polling places in Kosovo, as well as at 177 places in Serbia and at 19 places in Montenegro. 178.000 Serbs have the right to vote, and more than 100.000 of them will be allowed to vote at the polling places in Serbia and Montenegro. Polling places will be opened from 7 am to 8 pm. There are 26 parties, coalitions and independent candidates at the elections, including wide Serbian coalition "Return". There will be 19 parties, two coalitions, two citizens' initiatives and three independent candidates. The electoral silence began at midnight and it will last till the polling places close, that is, till 8 pm on Saturday, November 17th. The elections are organized by OEBS, and they will be monitored by the delegation of European Council, two Albanian non-governmental organizations, as well as the Belgrade organization CeSID and the Montenegrin Centre for election monitoring. More than 30.000 soldiers of KFOR will take care of the security in Kosovo during the elections, as well as about 8.000 policemen of UNMIK and Kosovo police.

CeSID monitors the elections in Kosovo

Belgrade, November 16th - About 900 monitors of the Centre for free elections and democracy (CeSID) will monitor the voting procedure at 177 polling places in Serbia, 150 in Kosovo (the polling places where Serbs make the majority of the population), whereas the monitoring of the voting procedure will be organized at 19 polling places in Montenegro in cooperation with the non-governmental organization from Podgorica - Centre for election monitoring. Beside the voting procedure at those polling places, CeSID's active members will also monitor the counting of votes in, for this occasion organized, Centre for counting of votes in Obilic, near Pristina. CeSID accredited 73 monitors in Obilic for the counting of votes. CeSID won't be monitoring the work of the Central electoral committee and the work of the help services (centres for data entry and data processing), because CeSID didn't obtain accreditations for that part of the procedure from OEBS, the organizer of the Kosovo elections. CeSID's active members will be monitoring the elections in the municipalities of Strpce, Kosovska Vitina, Prizren and Gnjilane, considering the fact that the mission of OEBS in Kosovo corrected its omission, discovering in the meantime the accreditations assigned to CeSID's monitors in those municipalities.