On Sunday, November 9, in addition to five municipalities in Albania holding local elections, Kosovo will also go to the second round of mayoral elections, a process that will take place in 18 municipalities in the country. This round is expected to bring a strong political confrontation in some of the country's largest municipalities, including Pristina and South Mitrovica, while a feature of this process is the participation for the first time of 1,690 young voters who have turned 18 years old before or on polling day.
The spokesperson for the Central Election Commission (CEC), Valmir Elezi, has confirmed that the same voter list will be used for this round as in the first round, with some limited updates.
"In the second round of elections, the same voting list that was used in the first round will be used, with some updates. Specifically, this list has been supplemented with the names of 1,690 young people who, from October 13 to November 9, have the right to vote for the first time. Also, about 1,150 people who have renounced Kosovo citizenship or who have passed away from the beginning of September to the last week of October have been removed from the list," said Elezi.
According to the CEC, apart from additions and exceptions, there will be no changes to the internal registration lists of citizens, which means that citizens who have moved from one municipality to another after the first round will not be able to vote in their new place of residence, but only in the municipality where they were initially registered.
"Internal movements of citizens between municipalities are not included in this electoral process. Citizens who have changed their residence from one municipality to another after the first round will not be able to vote in the municipality where they have moved, but only in the one where they were registered on the voting list of the first round and if their municipality is part of the runoff," explained Elezi.
The second round of elections will take place in these 18 municipalities of Kosovo:
Gjakova, Gjilan, Dragash, Kaçanik, Klina, Fushë Kosovë, South Mitrovica, Obiliq, Rahovec, Peja, Pristina, Prizren, Suhareka, Viti, Vushtrri, Junik, Mamushë and Kllokot.
According to updated data from the CEC, the total number of citizens with the right to vote in these municipalities is 1,316,672, only 543 voters more than in the first round, after the addition of new voters and the removal of the names of persons who have died or who have renounced Kosovo citizenship.
For the smooth running of the process, 525 voting centers with a total of 1,648 polling stations will be opened. Of these, 507 centers with 1,628 polling stations will be used for regular voting, while 18 additional centers, one in each municipality where the second round is held, will serve for conditional voting.
CEC officials have announced that the fiercest battles are expected to take place in Pristina and South Mitrovica, where the differences between candidates in the first round were minimal, and where the focus of political parties has increased significantly in the final days of the campaign.
