Peaceful Elections, Rugova the Winner
AIM Pristina, October 31, 2000
"Kosovo has joined the world of democracy" enthusiastically stated the highest international representatives immediately after the conclusion of the voting, although another couple of hours crowds of people waited in front of several polling places. Chief of OSCE Mission, Ambassador Dan Everts, said that this was a historic day on which the citizens of Kosovo behaved with dignity after having passed the test in democracy. "My predictions that these would be one of the best, if not the best, elections in the Balkans, proved true", said Mr.Everts, the chief person in charge of organising local elections. His face beaming with excitement, the UN Administrator of Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner said that October 28, was a fantastic day and told the citizens of Kosovo that he was proud of them..."The turnout was high, there was no violence, no provocation, except for a few incidents. This proved that people here are of a sound frame of mind", said Kouchner.
In the evening of October 28, he triumphed taking advantage of that occasion to tell all those who thought that the development of democracy in Kosovo was an impossible mission, how wrong they had been. "The citizens of Kosovo have taken the responsibility for developing a free society", said Kouchner on that occasion adding that the next natural step would be the organisation of general elections in Kosovo. Even the Commander of Peace Forces in Kosovo, Carlo Cabigiousu, congratulated the citizens of Kosovo on the civilised way the electoral process was carried out. He expressed his conviction that his soldiers from 39 countries of the world would for ever remember the citizens of Kosovo patiently waiting in queues to vote. He also said that the behaviour of Kosovars was a kind of recognition to his soldiers who had come to Kosovo to maintain peace and security...
Representatives of the international community stated that October 28, was the most important day for Kosovo and, at the same time, the most peaceful day since the arrival of peace forces. According to them, it was definitely the day when primarily Kosovo won the most.
And judging by the high turnout at the elections for local government, Kosovo could truly get the epithet of a country with the most patient voters in the world. Many citizens stated that they had taken their place in queues even before the opening of polling stations, and many waited for hours with their small children, who were unaware that their parents actually thought that their vote was going to decide the independence of Kosovo. That something more than simple voting was going on was reflected in their formal dress and lined citizens who tried to give everything a solemn tone. Before TV cameras and microphones they stated that they were happy to "freely vote for the first time in free Kosovo". That was the most frequently repeated refrain in long queues of people who believed what they had been hearing during 45 days of pre-electoral campaign, i.e. that their life would become better and Kosovo an independent state.
When the night fell several hundred people were still standing in front of polling places, but OSCE decided to allow the voting to continue until the last citizen exercises his voting right.
The night between October 28 and 29 members, and leaders of political parties feverishly waited for the results, while citizens were pleased because of the opinion expressed by representatives of the international community that "Kosovo has won". On the day of the elections everything was quiet in the capital of Kosovo and most of the shops were closed. Above some of them the national flags were flying. The atmosphere was festive, there were flags outside polling places, but inside only OSCE and OUN sings.
On the other hand, as if wanting to round off the picture of that day, the Administrator Kouchner expressed his regret over the fact that Serbs did not take part in the electoral process, but also pointed out that it was their own choice. He also reminded that he would appoint the Serb representatives to the communal assemblies launching the idea on holding elections in zones with the majority Serbian population already next year. On the other hand, the Albanian leaders, preoccupied by just completed elections probably did not catch Kouchner's announcement, as there is no other explanation for the lack of any comment on this statement, as happened in earlier similar cases.
Already the following day brought to light what had happened the previous night. Both international and local observers assessed that the local elections of October 28, had been peaceful, but beset by numerous technical problems. Even Chief of Monitoring Mission of the Council of Europe, Victor Ruffy warned that the voting process had not been at the level of preparations for these elections. Crowds around the polling stations gave rise to confusion and slowed the process down. In some cases when as many as several hundred citizens in front of individual polling stations gave up waiting for lack of patience. Already at the beginning of the voting it became clear that the OSCE calculations were wrong. 1,464 polling stations were not enough for all the interested people who came to vote. The process of identification and voting at certain polling stations lasted for as long as 10 to 15 minutes, although the organisers had planned a minute per voter.
Observers from local non-governmental organisation also said that there were many irregularities. They claimed that the local OSCE staff was mostly untrained and politically biased. The local press even witnessed instances in which the staff shouted the names of candidates or parties. It was claimed that in some cases they even suggested elderly or illiterate people whom to give their vote to. Such "system of assistance" was mostly used by individual members of electoral commissions. Political parties (mostly those which were aware that they had lost, although official results, even the preliminary ones, had not been announced) said that there were instances in which their members "were maltreated, intimidated and even forced to vote contrary to their will" (?). Some 30 percent of observers' reports informed of people being prevented from voting secretly.
However, irrespective of these objections, the most important thing is that no use of violence was reported and that citizens mostly behaved. The local press was deeply impressed by the fact that the election process of October 28 came as a surprise to many, even international representatives. Coming from countries in which 20 to 30 percent of the electorate fulfils its voting obligation, the international observers couldn't believe their eyes seeing "rivers" of voters streaming towards transparent voting boxes. It seems that the deeply divided political scene of Kosovo did not exert influence on the behaviour of voters who, despite a large number of political parties, civil initiatives, coalitions and independent candidates did not have any doubts when casting their votes.
According to preliminary data obtained on the basis of 90 percent of counted votes, presented late in the evening on Tuesday, the winner of these elections is the oldest party of Kosovo - Dr Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic Alliance of Kosovo with 58.13 percent votes (i.e. out of the total number of 30 communes of Kosovo it won in 21), followed by Hashim Thaqi's Democratic Party of Kosovo, which emerged from the KLA, and won 26.95 percent of votes, i.e. in only six communes. The coalition Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, headed by the former local KLA commander Ramush Haradinaj, managed to secure only 7.72 percent of votes which local analysts consider to be a success for this party since it came into being only few months ago. The Christian-Democratic Party of Kosovo of the member of Academy Marc Krasniqi, won slightly over 1 percent of votes. All other parties, coalitions, civil initiatives and independent candidates managed to win the confidence of only 3 percent of the electorate.
It seems that more than just electing the local-government officials, the electorate was choosing the way of legitimising several main political forces who have committed themselves in advance, by signing a special agreement during the visit of the US Ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke to Pristina, that they would recognise the election results irrespective of the winner. It seems that in the days to come, as the process of completing election results proceeds, the refrain that will be most often repeated will be "Kosovo won"...
However, more critical analysts are not inclined to consider these elections as "such a big and historic victory" stating that the voters had to choose between Rugova's "populist" Democratic Alliance of Kosovo and Thaqi's "revolutionary" Democratic Party of Kosovo and considering the "small parties" the biggest losers, especially the so called civil sector which were, supposedly, the main reason why the proportionate electoral system was insisted on.
AIM Pristina
Besnik BALA