Elections in Kosovo: Accreditation of Serbian media subsequently approved

Three days before local elections Central Election Commission of Kosovo (CEC) refused accreditation to all Serbian media from Belgrade and Kosovo. Among others, the following are not accredited: RTS, RTV, Tanjug, Nova.rs, Danas, Alternativna, Kontakt plus, Radio KiM, Kosovo online and others.

However, with a subsequent decision, on Friday, October 10, more local and international media were accredited, including Serbian ones - just a day and a half before the elections.

No explanation

Why the Serbian media are not accredited when the others are, is not explained in the announcement of the CEC, neither the last nor the original, with which some journalists unsuccessfully tried to get in touch.

Only a few hours after the first announcement, on October 9 around ten o'clock in the evening, the journalists received an email with the Decision on the rejection of accreditation.

It said that after the check, it was determined that certain media outlets do not meet the legally prescribed criteria for accreditation, and that CEC members expressed doubts about the "authenticity of the presented media, including the origin and legitimacy of the submitted accreditation."

How did it all begin?

Since the majority of Serbian local media in Kosovo are registered as non-governmental organizations, that was the first reason why the CEC refused the accreditation of certain journalists. it already said "Time". They concluded that on the basis of the submitted media registration document. However, the submission of that document should have been optional, as it was written in the application form. The reality for some journalists was different: that optional field did not work, so some media were forced to physically deliver that document.

Serbian journalists from the north of Kosovo who could have accredited themselves as media from Belgrade, trying to avoid the problem of media registration in Kosovo, gave it up and decided to accredit themselves as local media.

The reason for this is that they were advised by "reliable sources" to send the accreditation as a local media regardless of the fact that they are registered as an NGO, because the CEC "because of the way it thinks" will reject the accreditation of media from Belgrade.

After they were denied accreditation, some Serbian journalists turned to representatives of the European Union, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, election observers and the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK) with the desire to exercise their right to professionally perform journalistic work.

After their reaction, the problem was supposedly solved, and the process was started. The requested information has been provided.

However, three days before the elections, the CEC decided not to accredit Serbian media.