Necessity of reforming the legal framework for local elections in the Republic of Kosovo

This paper will address the legal framework for local elections and the need for legal reform to ensure electoral equality in local elections in the Republic of Kosovo. When we analyse the Law (No. 03 / L-072) on Local Elections in Kosovo and compare it with the provisions of the Law (No. 03 / L-073) on General Elections we can notice substantial differences during the voting of candidates for the Municipal Assembly and those for the Assembly of Kosovo. The two distinctive features set out in Article 7 of the Law (No. 03 / L-072) on Local Elections are: The voter does not have a preferential vote as opposed to the General Election (only one candidate votes on the candidate list) and the list holder is not subject to voting (the vote cast for the political entity is considered as a vote for the first candidate on the list). This creates inequality in the electoral race within the list and secondly stifles internal competition within the same party. For this it is recommended to change the provision which favours the holder of the list compared to the other candidates on the list. It is proposed that with the new provision the holder of the list is also subject to the electoral race as an equal participant with the other candidates within the list. If only the vote for the party is marked on the ballot paper, the vote for the political entity should be counted. The vote cast for the political entity to be considered as a vote for women candidates in the list of candidates of the political entity. In this way, the gender quota of 30% defined by law is more easily met. The methodology used in this paper is based on the method of collection and analysis of primary and secondary data, the method of legal analysis (analysis of the legal framework for elections and reports of election results) and the comparative method