Eurasia Press & News
According to preliminary results released by the Central Election Commission, CEC, the mayoral candidate from the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Haki Rugova, won 48.7 per cent of the vote in the Istog/Istok mayoral elections held on Sunday, April 11.
Shasivar Haxhiaj of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, won 21.6 per cent followed closely by Muhamet Shatri, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, with 21.5 per cent, according to the preliminary results.
The elections were held after the mayor of Istog, Fadil Ferati from the LDK, died in January.
Burim Ahmetaj, coordinator of the ballot counting centre, said that there are 213 ballots that must be verified, noting that they could determine if a run-off will be held in Istog. A candidate must win at least 50 per cent of the vote in order to avoid a run-off.
The counting centre has informed Balkan Insight that the conditional votes will be counted today at 2pm.
“We have not yet counted the conditional votes because we are waiting for possible complaints from the Election Commission on Appeals and Complaints,” Ahmetaj told Balkan Insight.
He added that if any complaints are filed at the CEC or if any of the results from voting stations are annulled, then the procedure allows the CEC to continue with the counting of conditional votes.
“I know that there are not many ballots that need to be verified but we have to respect the procedures,” Ahmetaj said.
At least one incident was reported during the vote. Kosovo police arrested eight persons in the village of Banja as the result of an apparent fight at the polling station.
