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Elections help shaping the future in Kosovo, says Everts
VIENNA 10 November 2000
VIENNA, 10 November 2000 - The following editorial, entitled "Elections help shaping the future in Kosovo", was released by Ambassador Daan Everts, Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.
Elections help shaping the future in Kosovo
By Ambassador Daan Everts, OSCE Head of Mission in Kosovo
The dust of the elections has settled and we can now make some dispassionate comments. There is no question that the elections have done Kosovo and its people well. The whole election process, including the preparations and especially the behaviour of the electorate on 28 October has deeply impressed the world. This will help in shaping the future. All the cynics and sceptics about the democratic credentials of the Kosovo population have been silenced.
For any elections the key success criteria are turnout, transparency, absence of fraud and no violence. On all these points Kosovo scored very highly. The turnout of 79 per cent is truly remarkable and about the highest possible in any democracy. The elections and the count were transparent, aided by the thousands of domestic observers put forward by Kosovo non-governmental organizations and political parties. The elections were free of fraud and manipulation, mirrored by the fact that very few complaints about irregularities were made and those were marginal in nature. Violence was virtually absent, so much that KFOR wished there were elections every day!
Then there are the more technical criteria by which the success of elections is measured, such as the number of invalid votes and conditional ballots. Again the news is very good: only about 3 per cent of all ballots were invalid and the number of people who could not be found on the Final Voters List is less than 2 per cent. The total number of conditional ballots, including people who could not be included from people who went to the wrong polling stations, was around 5 per cent of the voters, a remarkably good score in a post-war situation. It all goes to show that the considerable investment in so-called voters' education, including media coverage, has paid off.
Of course, there was confusion and long waiting hours. The reason for this was the limited number of polling centres used for the simple reason of ensuring voters that people knew where to vote. We needed a simple rule to direct voters: vote where you have registered. Previous elections in the Balkans have show that in many instances voters did not know where to vote and ended up spending most of the election day trying to locate their polling stations. It was therefore judged that the better of the two evils was to have a smaller number of polling centres which voters new of in advance. I know that many of you had to wait in line for several hours on Election Day and I would like to thank you all for the tremendous patience you displayed. But this has also paid off! In total, less than 3 per cent of voters ended up going to the wrong polling station. Further delay was caused by too little training of staff, both the 9,000 local polling station committee members who were doing this for the first time and the international supervisors, some of who were also performing supervision duties for the first time. None of these operational difficulties had a negative impact on the credibility of the elections, however. Lessons have been learnt from the difficulties encountered on Election Day and rest assured that the OSCE will incorporate these valuable lessons into the organisation of the general elections which will be held next year.
It is still too early to say precisely when these general elections will be held, as there are several factors to take into account when planning these. Firstly, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has to choose an electoral system. The proportional system used for the 28 October municipal elections served us well, as we have seen from the distribution of seats to many parties who would have been left without representation had a pure majority system been used. So we now have to work out which electoral system will best serve for general elections, possibly a combination of the majority (district system) and proportional systems. There is also the question of how to include the Diaspora voters. As you know, only those in the Diaspora who could prove a link to their municipality were allowed to vote in the municipal elections. It was for this reason that the CEC established a cut-off date of 1 January 1998 for those eligible to vote, and indeed 21,500 Kosovars living outside of Kosovo did vote by mail for these last elections. For general elections, however, we have to work out whether we include the remainder of the Diaspora. I know that all of you now want to have general elections as soon as possible next year. Rest assured that we will work relentlessly to ensure that these can be held as soon as possible, but they can only be held once these questions have been addressed in the correct manner. We will not sacrifice quality for speed when it comes to these extremely important next elections.
What about the implementation of the results of the municipal elections? Another important criteria of the success of any election if the acceptance of the results by the political contenders. I would like to take this opportunity to applaud the democratic maturity of all party leaders who have declared that they will respect the outcome, even through some, naturally, feel disappointed with the outcome. As a result, I am confident that the hand-over of power will be smooth, thus enabling the Municipal Assemblies to meet and start working soon of the key issues that you want address as soon as possible, such as the economy, education, healthcare, reconstruction and the rule of law. One of the key elements of municipal governance will be the inclusion of minorities in the Municipal Assemblies, including Kosovo's Serb community. This will be a key element in helping Kosovo to continue to further its democratic credentials by demonstrating the ability for tolerance in a society that serves all.
Once again, I would like to reiterate the important message already sent by myself and Dr. Kouchner, that there are no losers in this election, only winners! To all of you I would like to send my warmest congratulations on the tremendous success of these first democratic elections - the first of many!
For further information, contact Roland Bless, Spokesperson, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, tel.: (+381-38) 500-162 or satphone: 871-762-009-948, ext. 260 / mobile: (+389-70) 250-576 / e-mail: press@omik.org or website: /kosovo
Elections help shaping the future in Kosovo
By Ambassador Daan Everts, OSCE Head of Mission in Kosovo
The dust of the elections has settled and we can now make some dispassionate comments. There is no question that the elections have done Kosovo and its people well. The whole election process, including the preparations and especially the behaviour of the electorate on 28 October has deeply impressed the world. This will help in shaping the future. All the cynics and sceptics about the democratic credentials of the Kosovo population have been silenced.
For any elections the key success criteria are turnout, transparency, absence of fraud and no violence. On all these points Kosovo scored very highly. The turnout of 79 per cent is truly remarkable and about the highest possible in any democracy. The elections and the count were transparent, aided by the thousands of domestic observers put forward by Kosovo non-governmental organizations and political parties. The elections were free of fraud and manipulation, mirrored by the fact that very few complaints about irregularities were made and those were marginal in nature. Violence was virtually absent, so much that KFOR wished there were elections every day!
Then there are the more technical criteria by which the success of elections is measured, such as the number of invalid votes and conditional ballots. Again the news is very good: only about 3 per cent of all ballots were invalid and the number of people who could not be found on the Final Voters List is less than 2 per cent. The total number of conditional ballots, including people who could not be included from people who went to the wrong polling stations, was around 5 per cent of the voters, a remarkably good score in a post-war situation. It all goes to show that the considerable investment in so-called voters' education, including media coverage, has paid off.
Of course, there was confusion and long waiting hours. The reason for this was the limited number of polling centres used for the simple reason of ensuring voters that people knew where to vote. We needed a simple rule to direct voters: vote where you have registered. Previous elections in the Balkans have show that in many instances voters did not know where to vote and ended up spending most of the election day trying to locate their polling stations. It was therefore judged that the better of the two evils was to have a smaller number of polling centres which voters new of in advance. I know that many of you had to wait in line for several hours on Election Day and I would like to thank you all for the tremendous patience you displayed. But this has also paid off! In total, less than 3 per cent of voters ended up going to the wrong polling station. Further delay was caused by too little training of staff, both the 9,000 local polling station committee members who were doing this for the first time and the international supervisors, some of who were also performing supervision duties for the first time. None of these operational difficulties had a negative impact on the credibility of the elections, however. Lessons have been learnt from the difficulties encountered on Election Day and rest assured that the OSCE will incorporate these valuable lessons into the organisation of the general elections which will be held next year.
It is still too early to say precisely when these general elections will be held, as there are several factors to take into account when planning these. Firstly, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has to choose an electoral system. The proportional system used for the 28 October municipal elections served us well, as we have seen from the distribution of seats to many parties who would have been left without representation had a pure majority system been used. So we now have to work out which electoral system will best serve for general elections, possibly a combination of the majority (district system) and proportional systems. There is also the question of how to include the Diaspora voters. As you know, only those in the Diaspora who could prove a link to their municipality were allowed to vote in the municipal elections. It was for this reason that the CEC established a cut-off date of 1 January 1998 for those eligible to vote, and indeed 21,500 Kosovars living outside of Kosovo did vote by mail for these last elections. For general elections, however, we have to work out whether we include the remainder of the Diaspora. I know that all of you now want to have general elections as soon as possible next year. Rest assured that we will work relentlessly to ensure that these can be held as soon as possible, but they can only be held once these questions have been addressed in the correct manner. We will not sacrifice quality for speed when it comes to these extremely important next elections.
What about the implementation of the results of the municipal elections? Another important criteria of the success of any election if the acceptance of the results by the political contenders. I would like to take this opportunity to applaud the democratic maturity of all party leaders who have declared that they will respect the outcome, even through some, naturally, feel disappointed with the outcome. As a result, I am confident that the hand-over of power will be smooth, thus enabling the Municipal Assemblies to meet and start working soon of the key issues that you want address as soon as possible, such as the economy, education, healthcare, reconstruction and the rule of law. One of the key elements of municipal governance will be the inclusion of minorities in the Municipal Assemblies, including Kosovo's Serb community. This will be a key element in helping Kosovo to continue to further its democratic credentials by demonstrating the ability for tolerance in a society that serves all.
Once again, I would like to reiterate the important message already sent by myself and Dr. Kouchner, that there are no losers in this election, only winners! To all of you I would like to send my warmest congratulations on the tremendous success of these first democratic elections - the first of many!
For further information, contact Roland Bless, Spokesperson, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, tel.: (+381-38) 500-162 or satphone: 871-762-009-948, ext. 260 / mobile: (+389-70) 250-576 / e-mail: press@omik.org or website: /kosovo