Transparency International, this year, again published “Corruption Perceptions Index 2016” for 176 countries of world and Kosovo remains in its rank as the last among the countries of the region, although the number of points gained during this evaluation timeframe has increased. This was announced today at a press conference of Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI)/ Transparency International Kosova, where the results of this index were presented. Artan Canhasi from KDI, said that per CPI 2016, Kosovo has made progress compared to 2015 report. “Kosovo is rated with 36 points and now is ranked as 95th out of 176 countries worldwide. On 2015 Kosovo was ranked 103rd with 33 points. Assessment is done per the methodology of Transparency International, according to which a grade of 100 points means that a country is ‘perceived very clean’ and zero points means it is ‘perceived very corrupt’. Although in a better position from last year, in this report Kosovo again is placed the last in the region in comparison to the other countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro”, he said. Although the evaluation is mainly focused in the public sector, it is often interpreted as an evaluation attributable to the performance of the entire country. Based on this index, rating of countries can improve because of an open governance where leaders are accountable to the public, while poor assessment is a sign of mismanagement of funds and public positions, and lack of penalties for corrupt practices and public institutions that do not respond to needs of citizens. Fighting corruption in 2016 has been one of the main requirements that the international community had set to Kosovo institutions to move towards EU integration. According to Canhasi, constant pressure from inside and outside towards institutions of Kosovo to achieve tangible results in fighting corruption, has brought positive effects. “The institutions of the country have marked movement towards improving the public procurement system and have relatively good control of low-level corruption, respectively bribery in the public sector”, he added. The key problem is the lack of transparency in the financing of political parties; they continue to not publish their financial resources and their expenditures. Non-professionalism, party influence and control in nomination and selection of candidates in all public sectors, at all levels remains an obstacle. Health and judiciary sectors continue to face the highest level of corruption, lack of transparency and basic services for the citizens. KDI estimates that Kosovo's position will improve even further in case that e-procurement, which is expected to be implemented, could enable publishing of contracts, and when the politics of the country will focus on strengthening the rule of law and strengthening accountable practices. KDI urges citizens to hold politicians accountable by constantly seeking accountability and uncompromising fight against the corrupted. One way this can be done is by finding out who truly represents the citizens using the similarity calculator on votaime.org platform. TI has continued to publish the CPI globally for more than 20 years. At the global level, Denmark ranks first also this year with 90 points while Somalia remains in last place for the tenth year in a row. Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) / Transparency International Kosova (TIK), believes in a Kosovo where government, business, civil society and daily life of citizens are free from corruption.