Subject: Technical hitches ironed out ahead of Kosovo election: observers
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 8:20:16 PDT
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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STRASBOURG, Council of Europe, OCt 26 (AFP) - Technical hitches
have been resolved and local elections in Kosovo should be able to
proceed smoothly, the Council of Europe said Thursday, citing a
report from its observers in the area.
"The technical problems met in previous stages of election
preparations have now mostly been overcome," the Council of Europe's
election observation mission stated.
The mission was disappointed that efforts to encourage the
minority Serb population in Kosovo to participate (in the election)
"were not crowned with success" despite a large-scale information
campaign.
The media "conscientiously played their role by cooperating in
the information campaign," the mission said.
About 150 Council of Europe observers are monitoring the
election.
Saturday's municipal election is Kosovo's first democratic
election.
The elections will also be the first chance for Kosovo's voters
to oust municipal councillors who forced their way into power as
guerrillas in favour of democratically elected moderates. If this
happens, some, including officers of Kosovo's peacekeeping force
KFOR, fear a violent reaction.
The Serb community had boycotted an earlier election, turning it
into a mono-ethnic affair. Observers had earlier feared that ethnic
violence would stain the election.
However, the province's UN chief administrator, Bernard
Kouchner, has told the Serb community that if they showed
willingness to cooperate now that the threat of retaliation by
former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has been removed, a way
could be found to hold new elections before the two-year terms to be
served by Saturday's victors are complete.