Diaspora begins voting for second round of local elections in Kosovo

2025-10-27 12:17:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

From October 27 to November 8, Kosovo citizens living abroad can vote by mail for the second round of mayoral elections.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced that only 29,712 Kosovo citizens who were successfully registered to vote abroad for the first round of local elections held on October 12 are eligible to vote.

"The CEC has initiated the process of voting abroad before the certification of results to avoid delays in the electoral process and to ensure that every registered citizen has the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to vote on time ," the announcement said.

On October 25, the CEC announced the final results for the election of mayors in 35 municipalities, while the results have not yet been announced for Pristina, Junik and Mamusha, as in these municipalities there is a legal deadline of 48 hours for filing complaints with the Electoral Panel for Complaints and Appeals.

The CEC sends citizens of the diaspora a package with a ballot for the mayor by mail. The voter is then obliged to send that package with the ballot to one of the CEC mailboxes in 22 countries around the world and in Kosovo.

The run-off round will take place on November 9 in 18 municipalities and the CEC has already certified the voter list for the elections. The municipalities where the run-off will take place are Gjakova, Gjilan, Dragash, Kaçanik, Klina, Fushë Kosova, South Mitrovica, Obiliq, Rahovec, Peja, Prishtina, Prizren, Suhareka, Vitia, Vushtrri, Junik, Mamusha and Kllokot.

According to the CEC decision, 1,158,015 ballots will be printed for this round of elections – about 16 percent less than the total number of citizens eligible to vote in this round.

For the first round of elections, held on October 12, the CEC had certified a list of over two million eligible voters, of whom 43,993 were registered voters from outside Kosovo.

However, in 20 municipalities, new mayors and a new composition of municipal assemblies were elected in the first round of local elections. In the first round, 39.58 percent of the over 2 million eligible citizens in Kosovo voted. /REL