Kosovo PM claims poll victory

By Neil MacDonald

Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s prime minister and leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), has claimed victory in the country’s first elections as an independent state, although the election commission has delayed releasing final results.

Mr Thaci said his party had won at least 20 out of 36 contested municipalities. But the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the lesser ruling coalition partner and still a competitor to Mr Thaci, won the mayor’s race and captured the assembly for Pristina, the capital.

The elections took place peacefully, with the ethnic Serb minority visibly opting to participate in some areas despite calls from Belgrade for a boycott.

Final turnout exceeded 45 per cent, compared with only 40 per cent in the last, pre-independence parliamentary elections two years ago, Kosovo’s election commission announced after polls closed. Turnout in Serb districts, although lower, came to nearly 31 per cent in Strpce, a majority-Serb municipality in the south.

Serbs in isolated southern enclaves – feeling weakening support from the Serbian government in the economic downturn – turned up in larger numbers than in past elections, observers said. But those in the north, where Belgrade exerts stronger influence, still disregarded the contest for municipal councils and mayors in the predominantly ethnic Albanian state.

Hashim Thaci, prime minister, said he appreciated involvement by the disaffected minority group, which makes up about 5 per cent of Kosovo’s 2 million people. He also said, however, that free elections would boost the drive for recognition as a sovereign state.

“Full success [of these elections] will reflect well on the country in the continuing process of Kosovo’s international recognition”, Mr Thaci said. “This is a great step forward for the sovereign state.”

In Gracanica, an enclave outside the capital, Pristina, 28 per cent of Serbs wanted to vote, while 32 per cent refused and 40 per cent remained undecided, said Kontakt, a non-governmental organisation. Running for municipal office would not mean recognising independence, Serb candidates insisted.

Organisers decided to postpone voting in two other Serb municipalities at least until next year, partly to avoid hollow victories by ethnic Albanian candidates, international officials said. New municipal boundaries would bolster Serb autonomy as part of a western-backed plan decentralisation plan.

Kosovo declared independence in February 2008 and gained prompt recognition from the US and most EU members. New Zealand last week became the 63rd UN member state to extend recognition. But Serbia, backed by Russia, has blocked any endorsement at the UN Security Council.

Fraud allegations marred the final days of campaigning, as rival ethnic Albanian parties accused Mr Thaci’s ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of manipulating the Central Elections Commission.

Pieter Feith, chief international supervisor and European Union envoy, called for careful scrutiny of ballot transport after the voting. The European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO) has sent more than 100 monitors to help to ensure international standards.

The election commission did not give regular updates, and election monitors said they would not disclose further turnout figures until the final count.

Prior to independence, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) organised elections in the disputed territory, which the UN governed as a protectorate for nine years following the 1998-1999 war.

● Church bells in Serb enclaves rang to mark the death of Pavle, the 95-year-old patriarch of the Serb Orthodox church in Belgrade, the same morning. His potential successors are deeply divided about whether to work with EU officials to help the remote minority villages survive.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.