Around 1.94 million Kosovars will have the right to cast their vote in the parliamentary elections set to be held on Sunday, October 6. 

The population of Kosovo stands at around 1.7 million, with the many thousands of Kosovars living abroad causing the higher number of those eligible to take part. More than 42,000 new applications were received by Kosovo’s diaspora wishing to be registered to vote, double the amount of people that applied prior to the last parliamentary election in 2017. 

More than 400,000 members of the Kosovo diaspora are registered at Kosovo’s Ministry of Diaspora and Strategic Investments. However, the number is believed to be double that of those who are registered.

The nine-day election campaign begins on Wednesday and will conclude on Friday, October 4, with one day of electoral silence before voting begins at 07:00 on Sunday. 

Those heading to the polls will have 25 political parties or pre-election coalitions to choose from. Prishtina Insight compiled a description of the parties and pre-election coalitions that were created earlier in September. 

On their ballot, voters can first choose one political party to vote for. This choice represents the prime ministerial candidate that they support. Second, voters are expected to choose their five favorite candidates from the same party to take a seat at the assembly, which is comprised of 120 available seats. 

According to the Central Election Commission, CEC, 46,000 people were removed from the list of Kosovo residents eligible to vote, primarily those who have set aside their Kosovo citizenship or have died. 

The CEC stated that these parliamentary elections will cost the Kosovo state budget more than five million euros, which is the average cost of the last three parliamentary elections that have been organized. Funds from the state budget are allocated for monitoring, printing ballots, salaries of those involved in the organization of the election and other logistical issues related to the voting process and the run-up to the elections.

“In the name of CEC, I want to guarantee all the participants in the elections that the CEC remains committed to providing organized elections in accordance with the Kosovo Constitution and the highest European standards,” said Valdete Daka, the chairman of the CEC.

Elections were primarily triggered by the resignation of Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj on July 19. The decision to hold early elections was announced on August 22 by Kosovo President Hashim Thaci after a motion of no confidence was passed in the Kosovo Assembly.