Voting centers opened in Kosovo yesterday for national elections where the main issues for the country’s 1.9 million eligible voters are tackling corruption and a peace deal with Serbia, which would pave the way for UN membership.
The elections, the fourth since Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008, were called after Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj resigned in July when he was summoned to appear before a war crimes court.
Haradinaj has been questioned over his role in the 1998 to 1999 war as one of the commanders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army who fought for independence from Serbia.
Photo: Reuters
“Voting was very easy, but let’s see what our votes will bring,” taxi driver Avdi Morina, 46, said after voting in a sport hall in Pristina.
“We want well-being and jobs for young people,” retired doctor Muharrem Bajrami said after casting his vote in the capital.
Opinion polls have pointed to dissatisfaction with Haradinaj’s record at the head of a three-party governing coalition, which has boosted support for opposition parties.
Two of those parties, the Democratic League for Kosovo and the nationalist, left-leaning Vetevendosje, are seen as front runners in yesterday’s vote, along with the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the largest party in the current coalition.
Arton Demhasaj, from the Cohu think tank in Pristina, said the first task of the new government would be to restart talks with Serbia.
“The next government will be the government of the dialogue, from the first day to the last day, and only when the dialogue is over then we will have to deal with real issues such as corruption, education and the economy,” Demhasaj said.
Negotiations were halted a year ago when the outgoing government imposed 100 percent tariffs on goods produced in Serbia.
Most, but not all, of the parties contesting the polls have said that they will abolish the tariffs, but would introduce other retaliatory measures against Serbia.
The election is being overseen by more than 34,000 monitors, including 100 from the EU.
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