Thaci Requests Investigation into Alleged Poisoning of Election Commission Members

Thaci calls elections for mayors of four Serb-majority towns

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has requested that representatives of Kosovo institutions conduct an investigation into claims of poisoning of Central Election Commission employees who had been in contact with voting material from Serbia, read a statement released by Thaci's office.

"I am asking state institutions to professionally investigate the entire case and take all the necessary steps to shed light on suspicions of poisoning of Central Election Commission staff," the Kosovo president said at a meeting with Commission Chairwoman Valdete Daka, Kosovo Police Director-General Rashit Qalaj and Kosovo Intelligence Agency Director Shpend Maxhuni.

The institutions' representatives said that an examination of the envelopes received from the election service was to be completed soon, adding that the examination was being carried out in cooperation with international experts. Thaci called on everyone to refrain from political statements and unconfirmed reports until the end of the investigation.

Nine female patients, Election Commission members who had taken part in the opening of boxes containing ballot envelopes from central Serbia, were registered at the Infectious Diseases Clinic in Pristina. Doctors on call attended to all of them, according to a statement from the University Clinical Center of Kosovo.