Tens of thousands more voters registered to vote abroad, Valdete Daka explains the reasons

The Kosovo diaspora will be the first to determine its will for the June 7 elections.

For the early elections, voters abroad who have chosen to vote by mail will be able to complete this process from May 25 to June 6.

Meanwhile, anyone who wanted to take part has only this Sunday, until midnight, to register.

According to data from the Central Electoral Commission, as of 10 a.m. on Sunday, over 117,000 registration requests have been received through the electronic platform, of which over 99,000 have been approved, while another 7,621 have been rejected and over 10,000 are awaiting review.

“Out of 99,498 approved applications, 22,955 Kosovo citizens have registered to vote physically at diplomatic missions, 2,590 have registered to send a ballot package to the CEC mailbox in Kosovo and 73,953 have registered to send a ballot package to a mailbox outside Kosovo.”

This figure shows higher interest, compared to the early elections of December 28, 2025, so far over 22 thousand more registered than last time.

Germany leads with the largest number of registered voters, over 49 thousand, while Switzerland has over 23 thousand registered voters.

“The countries with the largest number of registered voters are: Germany (49,102), Switzerland (23,456), France (4,193), Sweden (3,750), Austria (3,165), United Kingdom (2,370), Italy (2,206), USA (2,070), Belgium (2,024), Slovenia (1,400), Norway (1,154) and Finland (1,010).”

The increased interest of the diaspora in voting from abroad this time, according to former CEC chairwoman Valdete Daka, comes because last time the expatriates were already in Kosovo.

“In December of last year, the diaspora were already here. They did not need to register because they voted physically, and they did not have the right to register as voters outside of Kosovo. This number that now seems large is the fact that the diaspora chose to vote by mail and not physically,” Daka declared.

The short deadline for organizing the elections, according to Daka, is not sufficient for the CEC to eliminate the problems that have arisen with voting from abroad during the December 2025 elections.

“Many obstacles have been revealed, as well as doubts about the way the votes were carried, or how they were transported from the diaspora, or from embassies. And this has reduced the public’s and public opinion’s trust in the regularity of this entire process.”

Voting at diplomatic missions will be organized on June 6, 2026, one day before the opening of polling stations in Kosovo. /Tv Dukagjini/

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