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Political parties abuse state resources during election campaign in Kosovo
2025-01-24 13:17:12 / KOSOVA
Political parties are using state resources to campaign. Dozens of cases have been identified in the first week of the election campaign alone.
Organizations monitoring this process say that official vehicles, public institution spaces, and even cases where civil servants are present at public gatherings, even during working hours, are being used.
The law on general elections prohibits the use of state resources during the election campaign period.
It clearly stipulates that public resources cannot be used to support political entities during elections, including vehicles and services provided by state institutions.
"With the exception of cases provided for by law, sources or resources of public institutions or bodies at the central or local level, or any other type of public institution, may not be used or put in support of political entities in elections," states Article 36 of this law.
Senior researcher at the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI), Violeta Haxholli, explains that there have been cases of political parties being fined for using state resources.
According to her, this practice has become a worrying phenomenon that is growing over time, negatively impacting the integrity of the electoral process.
"In some ruling party organizations there was a presence of official vehicles and public servants, but also in events or activities organized by opposition parties such as PDK, LDK, AAK, especially in municipalities governed by these parties. Some cases have also been reported to the ECAP [Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel] where several fines have been imposed," says Haxholli.
She underlines the importance of transparency and following the law, in order to prevent abuse and maintain citizens' trust in the electoral process. In the first week of the election campaign alone, as Haxholli points out, there were about 20 cases of misuse of state resources.
"We have found that in 18 cases political parties have misused state resources, this includes the use of official vehicles and public servants during working hours. The legislation stipulates that official vehicles, according to state protocol, can only be used by certain figures from selected public institutions," Haxholli mentioned.
Civil servants, she said, are allowed to participate in party activities only after working hours. However, she points out that there are numerous cases where they have been seen participating in election activities during working hours.
"We have identified that five of them [cases] are official vehicles that were used by political parties to go on campaign trips. Then we also have public servants who, during their working hours, went to election rallies," says Viona Bunjaku from "Lëvizja Fol."
"The misuse of public resources has not only happened this year, it is something that constantly accompanies us in elections. Since even cars, and all these means that are prohibited by law, are used in election campaigns," Bunjaku concludes.
Furthermore, Haxholli says that some violations of the rules are intentional, including the use of inflammatory language and hate speech, which are prohibited. She states that political entities continue to offend and insult each other despite existing rules.
On January 11, the campaign began and parliamentary elections will be held in Kosovo on February 9. The ECAP has condemned several political entities for the language used at rallies, emphasizing the need to maintain ethics in politics.
As citizens prepare for the upcoming elections, it is imperative that they be aware of the practice of misuse of state resources by parties. This is an issue that requires special attention and urgent action by the responsible bodies.
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