Deadline for absentee voter registration to expire on 17 August in Kosovo
Municipal elections in Kosovo are scheduled for 26 October (Lubomir Kotek/OSCE) Photo details
PRISTINA, 31 July 2002 - On 17 August will expire the deadline for the registration of absentee voters for the forthcoming municipal elections in Kosovo.
Through absentee voting, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo is making great efforts to ensure that also those voters that have moved away from their home in Kosovo will be able to express their electoral will and to cast on 26 October a ballot for the municipality in Kosovo in which they used to live.
"Registering and voting for one's home municipality shows the desire for a person to participate in the future of that municipality", said Susan Carnduff, the OSCE Mission's Director of Election Operations. "The voter does this by electing officials who represents their interests in their home municipality."
People falling into the category of absentee voters are required to visit a Voter Service Centre in order to change as soon as possible their voting option and to register for the municipality in which they lived on 1 January 1998. On election day, these absentee voters will be able to visit a polling centre close to where they currently live, where they can cast a ballot for a different municipality. There are 30 fixed Voter Service Centres in Kosovo, as well as mobile teams servicing other communities. It is important for people in those communities to look for leaflets and posters announcing when teams will be in their area.
To give an example: a voter is now living in Prishtine/Pristina, but was displaced from Gllogovc/Glogovac municipality after 1 January 1998: he or she can change his or her voting option and vote for the Gllogovc/Glogovac municipal assembly. Similarly, a voter now living in Mitrovice/Mitrovica and displaced from Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje can also change his or her voting option to cast a ballot for the Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje municipal assembly.
This, however, is only an option. People still have the right to vote for the municipality in which they presently live. Absentee voting is simply a possibility to help those who want to have a say in the decisions which affect their home municipality.
Through absentee voting, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo is making great efforts to ensure that also those voters that have moved away from their home in Kosovo will be able to express their electoral will and to cast on 26 October a ballot for the municipality in Kosovo in which they used to live.
"Registering and voting for one's home municipality shows the desire for a person to participate in the future of that municipality", said Susan Carnduff, the OSCE Mission's Director of Election Operations. "The voter does this by electing officials who represents their interests in their home municipality."
People falling into the category of absentee voters are required to visit a Voter Service Centre in order to change as soon as possible their voting option and to register for the municipality in which they lived on 1 January 1998. On election day, these absentee voters will be able to visit a polling centre close to where they currently live, where they can cast a ballot for a different municipality. There are 30 fixed Voter Service Centres in Kosovo, as well as mobile teams servicing other communities. It is important for people in those communities to look for leaflets and posters announcing when teams will be in their area.
To give an example: a voter is now living in Prishtine/Pristina, but was displaced from Gllogovc/Glogovac municipality after 1 January 1998: he or she can change his or her voting option and vote for the Gllogovc/Glogovac municipal assembly. Similarly, a voter now living in Mitrovice/Mitrovica and displaced from Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje can also change his or her voting option to cast a ballot for the Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje municipal assembly.
This, however, is only an option. People still have the right to vote for the municipality in which they presently live. Absentee voting is simply a possibility to help those who want to have a say in the decisions which affect their home municipality.