KJC Seals Election Results, Agron Maxhuni and Valentina Sopjani the New Members

The Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) has certified the results of the elections for Council members from the ranks of judges of the basic courts, the Administrative Court, and the First Instance Chambers of the Commercial Court, Ekonomia Online reports.

At the meeting, KJC member Ahmet Imami presented the full course of the electoral process, stressing that it was carried out according to the plan and calendar approved by the Council, as well as under the monitoring of international partners and civil society.

“This has been a lengthy process across both dates on which it was held, but allow me to briefly present this chronology. As we all know, the Judicial Council approved the election dates in the country’s basic courts. Based on the plan and calendar, the Commission organized the process as follows: on 16 June, elections were held at the Basic Court in Prishtina. Of the four nominated candidates, the candidate qualified in the election vote was Judge Valentina Sopjani. On 17 June, the Commission organized elections at the Basic Court in Gjilan and in Ferizaj. In Gjilan, we did not have a successful candidate to qualify for the election vote, while in Ferizaj it was Judge Ilir Bytyqi. On 18 June, the Commission organized elections at the Basic Court in Mitrovica and in Peja. In Mitrovica, the qualified candidate was Judge Agron Maxhuni, while in Peja, the qualified candidate was Judge Besnik Shala. Then on 19 June, the Commission organized elections at the Basic Court in Prizren, where according to the result of 19 June, the successful candidate qualified for the election vote was Judge Diona Bajrami. On 22 June, the Commission received an email in which the candidate, namely Judge Besnik Shala, withdrew from the race. The Commission approved the final list of qualified candidates for 23 June, who were: Judge Agron Maxhuni from the Basic Court in Mitrovica, Vushtrri branch; Judge Diona Bajrami from the Basic Court in Prizren; Judge Ilir Bytyqi from the Basic Court in Ferizaj; and Judge Valentina Sopjani from the Basic Court in Prishtina. On 23 June, the election vote was held, where according to the result, among these four qualified candidates, the ones who received sufficient votes to be elected members of the Judicial Council were Judge Agron Maxhuni and Judge Valentina Sopjani. It is important to emphasize that both in the elections held in the basic courts and in the electoral assembly, we had monitoring from international partners and civil society. It is also worth noting that the entire election voting process was broadcast live on the Council’s website. A novelty in this process was that every counted vote was displayed on screen and all participants in the assembly had the opportunity to see how the counting proceeded. Before proposing that the Council certify the results, I wish to express my gratitude to the members of the judicial commission, Judge Afërdita Bytyqi and Judge Fahret Velija, as well as the support staff, who never spared any effort to contribute to ensuring that the process was conducted in the best possible way. Therefore, based on the explanation I have given, I propose that the Judicial Council certify the results, in which the elected candidates, respectively the new members elected from this electoral process, are Judge Agron Maxhuni and Judge Valentina Sopjani,” he said.

Following this presentation, the KJC approved the certification of the results and formally confirmed the election of Judge Agron Maxhuni and Judge Valentina Sopjani as the newest members of the Council from the ranks of judges.