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Kurti is firm: There is no amnesty for commissioners and individuals involved in vote manipulation!
2026-01-24 12:01:59 / KOSOVA
Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has called for a comprehensive investigation and punishment for those suspected of vote manipulation within political parties in the December 28 snap parliamentary elections.
The call by Kurti, leader of the election-winning Vetevendosje Movement, comes after authorities detained more than 100 people on Friday on suspicion of vote-rigging in last month’s election. Kurti — who has been criticized for his lack of response to allegations of vote-rigging when they surfaced weeks ago — said on Facebook on Saturday that “commissioners and individuals who, in a clandestine manner, have been involved in vote-rigging within political entities, harming colleagues and political entities, have no amnesty.”
Last week, the Central Election Commission was forced to launch a full recount of votes after finding discrepancies in the votes for parliamentary candidates. Kurti added that his party “has always been the guardian of preserving the political will expressed through the vote at the ballot box and will always remain so.” With the recount completed in almost half of the polling stations, it turns out that about 80,000 votes are incorrect, according to Eugen Cakolli of the non-governmental organization, the Democratic Institute of Kosovo.
Among the candidates for MPs who had the most votes removed during the recount are from the main parties, including Vetëvendosje itself. Kurti insisted that the allegations must be investigated and that “the manipulators must be punished, these cases must never appear before us in the future.” Authorities are conducting investigations in three municipalities, Prizren, Ferizaj and Malisheva, with Prizren suspected of having the most vote manipulation.
The Chief Prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution Office in Prizren, Petrit Kryeziu, said on Friday that those detained in the southern region of the country are mainly commissioners and among them there are also family members of candidates for MPs. They are suspected of falsifying election results, pressure and intimidation, and giving and receiving bribes. According to him, such manipulation could not have happened without a compromise between the commissioners of the four largest political parties.
"We are talking about the municipality of Prizren, where no less than 40,497 votes were added and no less than 27,520 votes were removed. So, the total difference in abuses is 68,017 votes," said Kryeziu. In Kosovo, vote manipulation is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment. However, recently, the non-governmental organization, ÇOHU, published a research that showed that over 90 percent of cases of electoral manipulation end with suspended sentences or fines. Most of the candidates for deputies who had the most votes removed during the recount have denied having had a hand in abuse and have said that they condemn this phenomenon. /rel
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