Kosovo Braces for Local Polls Amid Media Censorship Outrage

Kosovo’s Central Election Commission. Photo: BIRN  Media organisations expressed concern after election officials rejected accreditation requests from dozens of Serbian-language and international media outlets which applied to follow Sunday’s local elections in Kosovo. Some Albanian-language media have also seen their applications rejected. More than 2 million eligible voters have been registered to vote in the October 12 local polls in 38 municipalities to elect new mayors and municipal councillors. The Central Election Commission has published a list of rejected media but did not provide a justification for its decisions, which were made by many of its members abstaining or voting against some media outlets.   The Press Council of Kosovo (PCK), a self-regulatory body for print and online media, said the decision was “unacceptable and harmful” for both media freedom and election transparency. It said its media members fulfilled all the requested criteria for media activities and that their documentation had been assessed and approved by the CEC’s Office for Political Parties. “The PCK calls on the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel to take a meritorious decision regarding this case in order to ensure equal treatment for all media,” it added. Hours after the rejections, the UK Ambassador to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, met with CEC chairperson Kreshnik Radoniqi to remind him of “the importance of legitimate media outlets being able to observe the election in accordance with Kosovo’s laws”. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo expressed its disappointment in a statement. “Free, fair, and transparent elections depend on open and equal access for all media to observe, report, and inform the public about electoral developments. Restricting media accreditation on the basis of perceived community, language or editorial affiliation limits the ability of journalists to perform their professional duties,” the OSCE said.  It added that access to information in community languages represents a fundamental aspect of Kosovo’s multiethnic and democratic framework. “Ensuring equal opportunities for all media is essential to maintaining public confidence in the electoral process, avoiding suggestions of discriminatory practices and supporting informed participation by all communities.” The Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK) said that based on discussions among CEC members, “the refusal looks of a political and ethnic nature”. “AJK encourages the rejected media to immediately complain at the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel and requests this body to urgently address and overturn CEC’s decision.” In Belgrade, the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly protested what it called “censorship and selectively controlled access to information”. “Bearing in mind that a large number of voters in these elections are of Serbian nationality and that there is a language barrier, acting in this way denies the basic human right of citizens to be informed about the election process and voting results in their native language,” ANEM said on Friday. It added that CEC’s decision represents “a clear discrimination of the media, an attack on democracy with dangerous provisional and highly politically motivated goals”. “That is why we call on the competent institutions in Kosovo to reconsider their decision and allow the media in Serbian to report unhindered and objectively about local elections in Kosovo, that is, [to] perform their work professionally,” ANEM said. In total 93 political entities including 32 political parties, two coalitions, 32 citizens initiatives and 27 independent candidates have been certified for Sunday elections.