Media Release of State Election Commissioner Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi

At the opening of the election campaign, I would like to bring the attention of all electoral subjects, and all other political and institutional stakeholders which are related to the elections process, to comply with the following commitments and principles:

1. respect the rights and political freedom of the citizens and their opponents;
2. to follow the rules established in the Electoral Code and the acts of the CEC not to use public sources for electoral purposes;
3. not to get involved in intimidating or obstructive practices regarding the exercising of the right to vote and free expression of the voters will; 
4. to refuse to be part of the practices of vote-buying and obtaining illegal funds or benefits, especially those deriving from criminal activities;
5. to publish in real-time at the CEC and the political website of the electoral subject all types of donations, and refuse to accept donations in money or in kind, which violate the provisions of the Electoral Code;
6. to comply with the Electoral Code provisions regarding the posting of propaganda materials;

Deeming that the penalties provided in the Electoral Code are not aim at the administrative punishment of the public administration servants, but to make them more responsible in the enforcement of the laws and legal standards, I would like to appeal to all electoral subjects, their candidates and public administration, not to allow, under any circumstances, the use of administration staff and their duty for political needs.

The voters should be actively engaged in the reporting of corruption cases, vote-buying, and illegal financing of the election campaign. 

Elections are for citizens, therefore promote and debate on political issues by refraining from the harsh, hateful, and discriminatory speech.

The Election Commission members of all levels, play a key role in the good administration of the election process and they should show responsibility and integrity to strictly comply with the law and good election practices.

The media monitoring will start today, which with the amendments to the Electoral Code will be conducted by the Audio-Visual Media Authority (AMA). The CEC approved the monitoring methodology, taking into consideration the monitoring manuals of OSCE/ODHIR.

The mission of the media is truthful reporting and informing the citizens and I am confident that media will successfully accomplish its important mission.