Early parliamentary elections in Kosovo

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - The early parliamentary elections are taking place in Kosovo-Metohija, for the first time in its entire territory, including four Serb-dominated municipalities in the north.

A total of 1,782,454 voters will be able to exercise the right to elect 120 members of the Kosovo parliament, which is about 40,000 people more than the number of citizens registers in Kosovo's population census in 2011.

Out of thirty political entities that will participate in the elections, five are Serb-led parties, including the Serb List that has been supported by the Serbian government.

In order for political parties to win seats in the Kosovo parliament, they should cross the threshold of five percent, while the threshold for coalitions stands at seven percent of the vote.

Minority communities have 20 guaranteed seats, 10 of which belong to Serbs and the other ten to other national communities in Kosovo.

The electoral process in the north, at the request of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), is supported by the OSCE.
As Tanjug learned from Nenad Rikalo, Serb member of the CEC, that voters in the early parliamentary elections may use all valid document and Serb IDs, if they are registered with the electoral roll.

The Kosovo and EULEX police and KFOR soldiers will be in charge of security in the parliamentary elections.
The Kosovo police will be deployed in front of polling stations and in other crucial areas with visible support of EULEX and KFOR.

Photo Tanjug/Boki