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Low Turnout in Kosovo Polls

By Krenar Gashi

18 11 2007  Pristina _ Authorities in Kosovo said Saturday’s elections had been carried out successfully, although just over 40 percent of registered voters exercised their right to vote.

Joachim Ruecker, head of the UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, praised the conduct of the election, but he expressed concern over the widespread boycott of the poll by Kosovo Serbs.

 “I would like to congratulate (those involved in organising) these elections, which have been without incidents and have been successful,” Ruecker said at a press conference.

Tim Guldimann, head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, who is also chair of the Central Election Commission, CEC, said the elections had been “a success for Kosovo”.

“We’re very pleased that nothing bad happened,” said Guldimann.

Observers noted only some minor incidents. However, in northern Kosovo, mostly inhabited by Serbs, the overall turnout hardly reached 1 percent of registered voters.

Most of the polling stations in areas populated by Serbs did not open at all, or closed down a few hours after opening, due to pressures and threats from radical groups. Local authorities refused to open public premises, most of them schools, which had been designated for use as polling stations.

“My assessment is that this is due to pressure that the Serb community was exposed to,” said Rucker; he added that it has been UNMIK’s strategy not to use force in order to make public buildings available for use as polling stations.

Both Ruecker and Guldimann said that the overall percentage of those who voted – just over 40 per cent of registered voters – was normal when compared to other countries that have even older democratic traditions.

However, international election experts say no country in the Balkans has had a turnout of less than 55 per cent in their most recent parliamentary elections; and voter participation in western Europe tends to be even highter.

Saturday’s elections were the fifth organised in Kosovo since 1999, when NATO air strikes forced the Serbian authorities to withdraw from the territory. Turnout has fallen in each successive election, reaching its lowest point in Saturday.