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Seats in Kosovo's municipal assemblies reflect the vote, says OSCE Mission
PRISTINA 8 November 2002
PRISTINA, 8 November 2002 - The OSCE Mission in Kosovo reminds political entities of the fact that mandates won in the Municipal Elections were given according to a system of proportional representation.
The UN Special Representative, Michael Steiner, certified the results of the Municipal Elections last Sunday, 4 November, on the recommendation of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the local institution tasked to create the framework for elections in Kosovo. These results are official and final.
Some political entities have expressed concern about the distribution of seats and a greater number of smaller entities gaining seats in the new assemblies. For these elections, the Sainte-Lague system of proportional representation was used to translate votes into seats. It ensures that political entities are represented in proportion to the votes cast in a given municipality. Under this formula there is no minimum threshold of votes needed to win a seat. This system was used successfully in both the 2000 Municipal and 2001 Kosovo Assembly Elections, which were run by the CEC and OSCE.
Prior to the announcement of the final results, political entities were given the chance to file complaints relating to the counting process with the Elections and Appeals sub-Commission (ECAC). The CEC could recommend the results for certification to the SRSG only after the ECAC reported that there were no outstanding complaints that would affect the results.
The OSCE reminds political entities and their supporters that they are obliged to abide by the results of the elections and to support the full implementation of the certified election results by the electoral Code of Conduct.
The UN Special Representative, Michael Steiner, certified the results of the Municipal Elections last Sunday, 4 November, on the recommendation of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the local institution tasked to create the framework for elections in Kosovo. These results are official and final.
Some political entities have expressed concern about the distribution of seats and a greater number of smaller entities gaining seats in the new assemblies. For these elections, the Sainte-Lague system of proportional representation was used to translate votes into seats. It ensures that political entities are represented in proportion to the votes cast in a given municipality. Under this formula there is no minimum threshold of votes needed to win a seat. This system was used successfully in both the 2000 Municipal and 2001 Kosovo Assembly Elections, which were run by the CEC and OSCE.
Prior to the announcement of the final results, political entities were given the chance to file complaints relating to the counting process with the Elections and Appeals sub-Commission (ECAC). The CEC could recommend the results for certification to the SRSG only after the ECAC reported that there were no outstanding complaints that would affect the results.
The OSCE reminds political entities and their supporters that they are obliged to abide by the results of the elections and to support the full implementation of the certified election results by the electoral Code of Conduct.