OSCE rejects accusations of interference in elections

PRISTINA OSCE Mission in Kosovo head Jean-Claude Schlumberger rejected as unfounded accusations of "inappropriate action and interference with the voters." Tanjug reports that this relates to OSCE's activities during the repeated voting in Kosovska Mitrovica on November 17. OSCE rejects accusations of interference in elections The ambassador also expressed deep disappointment over "irresponsible statements" accusing the organization. Candidate of the Citizens' Initiative Sprska for the mayor of northern Kosovska Mitrovica Krstimir Pantic stated on Monday that he "cannot accept the results of the repeated elections in the city because of the suspicions that there were machinations involving the electoral materials" and blamed the OSCE. Pantic also said that OSCE and the international community artificially reduced the ballot difference between the candidates of the "Serbia, Democracy, Justice" Oliver Ivanovic and Pantic so as to prevent members of the Citizens' Initiative Srpska from getting seats in the Kosovska Mitrovica Assembly. “The OSCE was accused of acting unilaterally and without mandate when the election materials were transported for counting to the Count and Results Centre (CRC) in Kosovo Polje. That is not true,” the chief of the OSCE Mission said in the release. Speaking about the supervision of the electoral materials, he underscored that “at no point was the chain of custody for sensitive and non-sensitive material broken as the ballot boxes were under the supervision of the 27 polling station committee members and the OSCE staff for the duration of balloting, after the closing of polling stations, and during the transport and the counting.” Schlumberger underscored that none of the representatives of the Citizens' Initiative Srpska at 27 polling committees did not voice any complaint during the transport or ballot count or even later, and not a single complaint was filed to the Election Complaints and Appeals Committee. Recalling that OSCE is facilitating the local elections in northern Kosovo and Metohija in keeping with the agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina reached on April 19, Schlumberger said that the mission is “profoundly disappointed by unfounded and irresponsible challenges to its integrity as facilitator of the local elections.” In an interview for the Belgrade-based daily Politika, OSCE spokesman Nikola Gaon also rejected the accusations as unfounded, and said that 27 representatives of the Citizens' Initiative Srpska attended the opening of the ballot boxes in Kosovo Polje. He added that the ballots were transferred there according to the decision of the Kosovo Election Commission, and that this happened because of safety concerns, considering the incidents that happened during the voting on November 3. On Tuesday, Serbia's First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vucic said that Belgrade "will call on Brussels to reply to the question as to who is behind the decision that the ballots should be counted outside Kosovska Mitrovica as there were no incidents and no reason to make such a decision." Politika Tanjug

OSCE rejects accusations of interference in elections

The ambassador also expressed deep disappointment over "irresponsible statements" accusing the organization.

Candidate of the Citizens' Initiative Sprska for the mayor of northern Kosovska Mitrovica Krstimir Pantić stated on Monday that he "cannot accept the results of the repeated elections in the city because of the suspicions that there were machinations involving the electoral materials" and blamed the OSCE.

Pantić also said that OSCE and the international community artificially reduced the ballot difference between the candidates of the "Serbia, Democracy, Justice" Oliver Ivanović and Pantić so as to prevent members of the Citizens' Initiative Srpska from getting seats in the Kosovska Mitrovica Assembly.

“The OSCE was accused of acting unilaterally and without mandate when the election materials were transported for counting to the Count and Results Centre (CRC) in Kosovo Polje. That is not true,” the chief of the OSCE Mission said in the release.

Speaking about the supervision of the electoral materials, he underscored that “at no point was the chain of custody for sensitive and non-sensitive material broken as the ballot boxes were under the supervision of the 27 polling station committee members and the OSCE staff for the duration of balloting, after the closing of polling stations, and during the transport and the counting.”

Schlumberger underscored that none of the representatives of the Citizens' Initiative Srpska at 27 polling committees did not voice any complaint during the transport or ballot count or even later, and not a single complaint was filed to the Election Complaints and Appeals Committee.

Recalling that OSCE is facilitating the local elections in northern Kosovo and Metohija in keeping with the agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Priština reached on April 19, Schlumberger said that the mission is “profoundly disappointed by unfounded and irresponsible challenges to its integrity as facilitator of the local elections.”

In an interview for the Belgrade-based daily Politika, OSCE spokesman Nikola Gaon also rejected the accusations as unfounded, and said that 27 representatives of the Citizens' Initiative Srpska attended the opening of the ballot boxes in Kosovo Polje.

He added that the ballots were transferred there according to the decision of the Kosovo Election Commission, and that this happened because of safety concerns, considering the incidents that happened during the voting on November 3.

On Tuesday, Serbia's First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić said that Belgrade "will call on Brussels to reply to the question as to who is behind the decision that the ballots should be counted outside Kosovska Mitrovica as there were no incidents and no reason to make such a decision."