European observers have said there were ’serious allegations of fraud’ during weekend parliamentary elections in Kosovo, with concern over exceptionally high voter turnout in some areas.

‘Serious allegations of fraud in two municipalities have been brought to the attention of the delegation,’ the German head of the European Parliament’s observation team, Doris Pack said.

‘The delegation encourages the political parties to follow proper legal procedures. Identified perpetrators should be prosecuted promptly in line with the law in order to curtail the culture of impunity,’ she said.

Kosovo faced political gridlock Monday as both main parties claimed victory and international monitors cited irregularities in the territory’s first polls since its 2008 declaration of independence.

Monitors from the European parliament said there were “serious allegations of fraud” and the US ambassador said he had personally witnessed ballot stuffing in Sunday’s polls.

Exit polls by two independent non-governmental organisations put Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s party ahead, but well short of an overall majority that would enable him to avoid negotiating a coalition government.

The main opposition Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) meanwhile claimed it was in the lead, based on its own tally.

First official results were expected late Monday. But even if Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (PKD) remains the largest party, he will find it difficult to find coalition partners, according to analyst Kernar Gashi.

“The very fact that the three main parties that can be considered for coalition are against a coalition with Thaci shows that he lost the elections politically,” said Gashi, of the Kosovo Institute for Policy Research and Development, an independent NGO.

Thaci had already proclaimed himself as the winner within hours of the polls closing on Sunday.

“Victory is ours!” he told his supporters at a rally Sunday night. His supporters immediately poured into the streets of Pristina in celebration and vehicles plastered in Thaci posters honked their horns.

Rival LDK supporters also turned out to celebrate and the two groups had to be kept apart by police.

The opposition has complained about irregularities in Sunday’s poll. The electoral commission reported a 95 percent turnout in Thaci’s stronghold region of Drenica, slammed by the LDK as “impossible statistically and unacceptable politically”.

“Serious allegations of fraud in two municipalities have been brought to the attention of the delegation,” the German head of European Parliament’s observer team, Doris Pack, told a press conference.

And the European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO) said separately the elections were orderly but also noted “some cases of breaches of procedures and irregularities”.

“Some allegations of manipulation of the voting and counting process in certain municipalities, along with doubts over reported turnout in certain parts of Kosovo, have been registered,” ENEMO’s observer mission chief Zlatko Vujovic told reporters.

The US embassy in Kosovo said in a statement that ambassador Christopher Dell, who had observed the vote in Drenica, also spotted irregularities in one polling station.]

“There were irregularities during the count that the Ambassador observed, challenged, and reported,” the statement said, noting that the “ballots in the box exceeded the number of signatures in the voters’ book.”

A senior European diplomat earlier told AFP that international circles in Pristina “are worried about the Drenica case”.

“We made the elections authorities aware that we would follow the case closely,” the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

The independent Koha Ditore newspaper slammed the vote as questionable and warned that the whole vote could be called into question if the irregularities are proven.

Sunday’s election was Kosovo’s first since its unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008.

Minority Serbs in the north of the Albanian-majority territory largely boycotted the poll, but Serbs in enclaves in central Kosovo, who make up two-thirds of the 120,000 strong ethnic Serb population, turned out in numbers to cast their ballots.

Kosovo’s Serbs could be entitled to up to 15 seats in the 120-seat parliament, making them highly influential in likely coalition negotiations.

By Stephanie van den Berg
AFP

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