Newsroom
Ballots arrive for Kosovo's 17 November general election
PRISTINA 7 November 2001
PRISTINA, 7 November 2001 - More than one million ballots have arrived in Kosovo for the 17 November general election.
The ballots, which were printed in the United Kingdom, were brought to the province on a commercial charter. They were taken under close security, provided by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR), from Slatina Airport outside the province's capital Pristina to the counting and results centre between Pristina and Mitrovica, which is located in the north of Kosovo.
The ballots will now be stored, under KFOR guard, at the counting and results centre until 12 November. They will then be transferred to OSCE field offices throughout Kosovo, which will be guarded by OSCE security along with police from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). On the morning of election day they will be distributed to international polling station supervisors, who will be escorted to the polling centres by police.
It is a normal feature of any election that there are more ballots printed than there are people on the voters' list. There are approximately 1.2 million eligible voters in Kosovo, Serbia proper and in Montenegro. All surplus ballots will be distributed to each polling station, and will be used in case people make a mistake when filling out the ballot. For a ballot to be valid and counted a voter must mark only one box - no other mark on the ballot is allowed.
In addition to the ballots also the Final Voters' List arrived in Kosovo. Copies have been made for every polling station in Kosovo, Serbia proper and Montenegro. There are also 480 lists that include all voters in a given municipality, which are meant to help voters who arrive at the polling stations without photo identification to find out where to vote. These also are being kept secure, and will be taken to polling centres the day before the election.
A number of ballots were brought to Kosovo ahead of today's shipment to allow for the special needs voting programme to get underway. This programme is designed to allow people to cast a ballot for these elections although they will be unable to vote on election day. This includes Kosovo Police Service officers, people in hospital and persons in prison. This programme has been running since 31 October. Ballots have also already been sent to those who can vote by mail.
The ballots, which were printed in the United Kingdom, were brought to the province on a commercial charter. They were taken under close security, provided by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR), from Slatina Airport outside the province's capital Pristina to the counting and results centre between Pristina and Mitrovica, which is located in the north of Kosovo.
The ballots will now be stored, under KFOR guard, at the counting and results centre until 12 November. They will then be transferred to OSCE field offices throughout Kosovo, which will be guarded by OSCE security along with police from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). On the morning of election day they will be distributed to international polling station supervisors, who will be escorted to the polling centres by police.
It is a normal feature of any election that there are more ballots printed than there are people on the voters' list. There are approximately 1.2 million eligible voters in Kosovo, Serbia proper and in Montenegro. All surplus ballots will be distributed to each polling station, and will be used in case people make a mistake when filling out the ballot. For a ballot to be valid and counted a voter must mark only one box - no other mark on the ballot is allowed.
In addition to the ballots also the Final Voters' List arrived in Kosovo. Copies have been made for every polling station in Kosovo, Serbia proper and Montenegro. There are also 480 lists that include all voters in a given municipality, which are meant to help voters who arrive at the polling stations without photo identification to find out where to vote. These also are being kept secure, and will be taken to polling centres the day before the election.
A number of ballots were brought to Kosovo ahead of today's shipment to allow for the special needs voting programme to get underway. This programme is designed to allow people to cast a ballot for these elections although they will be unable to vote on election day. This includes Kosovo Police Service officers, people in hospital and persons in prison. This programme has been running since 31 October. Ballots have also already been sent to those who can vote by mail.