Serb boycott of Kosovo poll likely to overshadow country's first election

CAMPAIGN VIOLENCE and a likely Serb boycott are casting a shadow over tomorrow’s local elections in Kosovo, its first ballot since declaring independence.

Prime minister Hashim Thaci’s car was pelted with stones and eggs as he left a rally this week in a stronghold of rival Ramush Haradinaj. And a day later shots were fired at one of Mr Haradinaj’s allies as he travelled to a fundraising event in the town of Mitrovica.

No one was hurt in the incidents but they fuelled fears that rivalries between politicians vying for control of 36 municipalities could trigger bloodshed in Kosovo, where crime, corruption and weapons are still rife 10 years after a war between ethnic-Albanian separatists and Serb forces.

“Violence has no place in campaigns, elections or the democratic process,” the US embassy in Kosovo said in a statement, urging “all political leaders, parties and activists to refrain from all violence and provocations”. President Fatmir Sejdiu called the election “the first huge challenge of our democracy before the world,” and encouraged reluctant Serbs to come to the ballot box.

Kosovo’s proclamation of sovereignty last year prompted the tiny state’s 100,000 Serbs to establish their own, Belgrade-funded authorities, rather than recognise government in Pristina, which is dominated by the ethnic Albanians. The Albanians comprise 90 per cent of the country’s population.

Belgrade officials and the influential Serbian Orthodox Church have discouraged Kosovo Serbs from voting. But a mass boycott could allow Albanian politicians to become mayors and take control of councils in mostly Serb areas, creating potential for a surge in ethnic tension.

It would also jeopardise Kosovo Serbs’ ability to draw funds from Belgrade and enjoy the large degree of autonomy envisaged for them under the terms of Kosovo’s independence, which is being overseen by a European Union police and justice mission and 12,600 Nato-led peacekeepers.

“I once again call on representatives of all communities . . . to be active in this process, which above all concerns the exercising of their constitutional and human rights,” said Mr Sejdiu, who condemned Belgrade’s efforts to dissuade Serbs from voting. “Such rhetoric to these people is unjust, irrational and above all it is not in the interest of the Serb community.”

Though about 20 Serb candidates are listed on the ballot, none have links with the main parties in Serbia proper or with the most prominent leaders of the Kosovo Serb community.

Momcilo Trajkovic, who is running for mayor in the mostly Serb town of Gracanica, called the election a “crossroads” that will decide how Serbs run their daily affairs in Kosovo. “We try to take destiny in our own hands at the local level, because if the Albanians gain power on Serb territory, it would be an irreversible mistake.”

Few Serbs are expected to vote in their stronghold of northern Kosovo which borders Serbia. But the situation is more complicated in places like Gracanica, one of the “enclaves” where Serbs live surrounded by ethnic Albanians and pressure to co-operate is greater.

“We live here and will stay here . . . but that doesn’t mean we have to agree with independence or . . . with political processes,” said Zivojin Mihajlovic, one of 1,100 Serbs living in the tiny enclave of Dobrotin. “Serbs are not organised to vote . . . and very few of us will. Belgrade has criticised the elections, and no one has faith in the Serb candidates – they are just looking for a way to fill their pockets.”