PRISTINA – Prime minister Hashim Thaci’s PDK party was set to win in yesterday’s election in Kosovo, according to exit polls released after its first general election since independence ended calmly.
“The PDK leads by six percentage points. Our polls see the PDK gaining 31 per cent while LDK has 25 per cent,” Shkelzen Maliqi, head of the Gani Bobi pollsters, said about a survey of more than 2,000 voters who had declared their vote.
The results mean Mr Thaci would next turn to negotiate backing from smaller parties that have won supporters away from both the PDK and the LDK. The LDK was the main minority coalition partner in the outgoing government.
Both leading parties seek EU and Nato membership for Kosovo, continued privatisation of state enterprises, and talks with Serbia, but have given few concrete details about their programmes to boost one of the poorest economies in Europe.
In the last national election in 2007, the PDK won 34.3 per cent of the vote, the LDK 22.6 per cent.
Turnout was higher than the previous elections, Mr Maliqi said, without giving a precise figure. A higher turnout might reflect eagerness for change that could cut support for the ruling party, analysts say.
The EU and US view the snap election as a test of Kosovo’s democratic maturity, and a free and fair vote is a condition for eventual membership in the EU.
A western election observers’ mission led by a European Parliament team was to hold a news conference today. “I consider the voting process a success,” said Valdete Daka, the head of the Central Election Commission. “There have been technical hitches that have not hurt the process.”
However, ethnic Serbs in the divided town of Mitrovica boycotted the election, showing lingering tensions from Kosovo’s breakaway from Serbia. Nine Serb parties ran, and their voters elsewhere in Kosovo went out to cast ballots. “These elections were organised by a state that does not exist for me, and this is the reason why I don’t vote,” said Dragan Vukosavljevic, a Serb in the northern town of Mitrovica.
Serbs offered a different picture in Gracanica, a village close to Pristina. The Serb, EU and US flags – the latter a target of Serb hate in the past – hung in front of the town hall. The voting station was packed.
Many Albanians interviewed outside polling stations said they hoped for change. With independence now shelved, Albanians were less reverential about their leaders.– (Reuters)