Home > 2.1.1 Electoral commissions > KOSOVO - Kosovo - Opinion on the “draft law on amending and supplementing the Law no. 03/l-174 on the Financing of Political Entities (Amended and Supplemented by the Law no. 04/l-058 and the Law no. 04/l-122) and the Law no. 003/l-073 on General Elections
 
 
 
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Paragraph 56
 

Regarding appeals, Article 42 of the LGE makes it clear that political entities may appeal CEC decisions imposing a fine under this article (i.e. in case of untimely submission of campaign funding reports) to the first instance court. On the other hand, Article 21, paragraph 12 of the LFPE states that political entities have the right to challenge decisions on sanctions before the ECAP “according to the legislation in force”. The two provisions need to be harmonised. Moreover, in the view of CEC representatives interviewed by the rapporteurs the terms “according to the legislation in force” in Article 21, paragraph 12 of the LFPE are to be understood by reference to Article 122 of the LGE. The latter provides for the right to challenge CEC decisions before the ECAP, but only in a limited number of cases which include decisions based on Article 42 of the LGE but not those based on LFPE provisions. In order to avoid a legal vacuum, the Venice Commission recommends explicitly providing – both in the LGE and the LFPE – for consistent appeal channels against decisions made by the Office in relation to the financing of political entities and of election campaigns. Finally, in accordance with international standards, the law should “define reasonable deadlines by which applications should be filed and decision granted” and it should “specify the procedures for initiating judicial review (appeal) of a decision affecting the rights of a political party” or “other parties that are affected by the decision”, in order to ensure effective legal redress. Such provisions need to be added to the LFPE and the LGE.