SERBIA: The OSCE has hailed voting in Kosovo a success, despite a low Albanian turnout and a boycott by Serb voters

Record ID: 327600

  • Title: SERBIA: The OSCE has hailed voting in Kosovo a success, despite a low Albanian turnout and a boycott by Serb voters
  • Date: 18th November 2007
  • Summary: PEOPLE WATCHING FIRST EXIT POLLS ON SCREENS IN GRAND HOTELS PEOPLE STANDING MORE OF PEOPLE WATCHING SCREENS
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Serbia
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD9T1G46K5G9GJSLFIA2IB2GJ7
  • Story Text: The OSCE has hailed voting in Kosovo a success, despite a low Albanian turnout and a boycott by Serb voters.
    The breakaway province of Kosovo voted for a new parliament on Saturday (November 17) with a mandate to declare independence from Serbia, in an election marred by low Albanian turnout and a Serb boycott.
    Polling stations closed at 1800gmt.
    Front-runner, Hashim Thaci, pledged independence within weeks, but his optimism could not mask clear voter dissatisfaction with time wasted since the 1998-99 war.
    Just 24 percent of 1.5 million eligible voters had cast their ballots by 2 p.m., and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said turnout by the end of voting at 7 p.m. (1800GMT) was likely to be less than the 50 percent turnout recorded three years ago.
    "Now of course the question is how many people came into the polls. It seems that compared to the elections in 2004, there might have been a slight reduction in the turnout. We assume 45, maybe a little bit less compared to 50 percent three years ago. But overall I think this was successful," Tim Guldiman, Head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo said.
    Guldiman added voter turnout was not particularly low compared to expectations.
    "Well I wouldn't say that overall it was so low. I mean there was a trend all over the last few years, this was the fifth time in Kosovo, modern Kosovo we had elections and the trend was always downwards. This is not I would say given the bad weather, the cold weather today that this was, let's say, a particularly low turnout with regard to the expectation. We didn't think that this would be more than last time. But overall I am not so pessimistic," he added.
    Preliminary results are expected before 2300 GMT.
    Thaci, an ex-guerrilla fighter and favourite to become prime minister, has said that he will declare independence immediately after December 10.
    That is the date for a report by Russian, United States and European Union mediators on last-ditch talks in search of a compromise between Serbia and Kosovo's 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority.
    There is still no sign of a deal, but two negotiating sessions are set to take place in Brussels and Vienna in the coming week.
    The OSCE said turnout among Kosovo's small Serb minority was predictably minimal, after Serb leaders in Belgrade warned voters not to legitimise a "secessionist" parliament. The U.N. authorities have complained of Serb intimidation.
    Kosovo Prime Minister, Agim Ceku, a former guerrilla commander who does not have a party of his own, is stepping down. Thaci, who leads the Democratic Party of Kosovo, is a narrow favourite to succeed him, according to opinion polls.
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