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October 23, 2004
ERP KiM Newsletter 23-10-04 Serbs Stay Away From Kosovo Elections The ethnic Serb minority had threatened to boycott the vote, saying the United Nations and NATO have failed to create an environment where Serbs can live free of the fear of attack. 
Empty polling booth in St. Sava School in Kosovska Mitrovica (Tanjug)
By GARENTINA KRAJA PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) Kosovo Serbs largely stayed away from the polls in early hours of Saturday's general election, a vote that will test the depth of the province's ethnic divide and international attempts at reconciliation. The ethnic Serb minority had threatened to boycott the vote, saying the United Nations and NATO have failed to create an environment where Serbs can live free of the fear of attack. The election was Kosovo's second since the province came under U.N. and NATO rule in 1999 after a NATO air campaign ended former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown against independence-minded ethnic Albanians. The 1998-99 war killed an estimated 10,000 people, mainly ethnic Albanians. Three hours into the polling, just a handful of Serbs had cast ballots. Overall turnout at 9:45 a.m. was 5 percent, said Adnan Merovci, the head of the election commission.
About 1.3 million voters were eligible to elect representatives to a 120-seat assembly, which in turn will elect a president and a government that holds limited authority. Ultimate power remains with the U.N. mission. In the predominantly Serb town of Zvecan, north of Pristina, Serb leaders attended a church service instead of voting, while Serbs in Gracanica, just east of Pristina, lit candles instead of going to the polls. ``We don't even notice that the elections are going on today,'' said Milan Ivanovic, one of the leaders in Zvecan. ``The Serbs understand that these are not our elections and that they are not in our interest.'' The elections, he said, are for ``ethnic Albanian institutions of violence and repression against the Serbs,'' who account for about 100,000 of Kosovo's 2 million people. Some 90 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian. The election came seven months after Kosovo's worst outbreak of ethnic violence since the war. Mobs of ethnic Albanians attacked Serbs and their property in riots that killed 19 people and injured more than 900 others. Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova called Saturday ``a great and important day for the formal recognition of Kosovo's independence,'' adding an independent Kosovo should be ``integrated in European Union, in NATO and in friendship with United States.'' The lawmakers elected will likely lead the province toward talks to determine Kosovo's final status, which are expected to begin next year. Ethnic Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor to Yugoslavia. One of the few who cast ballots in the northern, mainly Serb town of Kosovska Mitrovica, was Oliver Ivanovic, a Serb pro-election leader who said that those ``who had the courage to take our own destiny into our hands are the moral victors today.''
But Bosko Vukumirovic, 71, a Zvecan resident, boycotted the poll. ``We voted at previous elections and that was a mistake,'' he said. In the rest of Serbia, where Serbs displaced from Kosovo could vote, only a handful of ballots had been cast hours after the election began. In the central Serbian town of Jagodina, some 100 Serb refugees surrounded a polling station on Saturday morning, preventing it from opening. The protesters carried signs such as ``Betrayed souls'' and ``We won't vote''. Thirty-three political parties, initiatives and independent candidates were on the ballot. Ten of the seats are set aside for Serbs, though they can win more if they vote in large numbers. Another 10 seats are reserved for other Kosovo minorities. Security was provided by some 20,000 NATO-led peacekeepers and about 10,000 police officers deployed throughout Kosovo.
Serbs Boycott General Elections in Kosovo By GARENTINA KRAJA, Associated Press Writer PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro - Kosovo's beleaguered Serb minority largely boycotted general elections Saturday, dealing a blow to international efforts to create multiethnic harmony in the province. The Albanian majority, however, eagerly cast ballots it hoped would bring the former Yugoslav territory closer to independence, but the lopsided turnout could further delay talks on Kosovo's future. Kosovo's ethnic Albanians want independence, while Kosovo Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor to Yugoslavia. The election is Kosovo's second since it came under U.N. and NATO (news - web sites) rule in 1999, when a NATO air war ended former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites)'s crackdown on independence-minded ethnic Albanians. The 1998-99 war killed an estimated 10,000 people, mainly ethnic Albanians. Ultimate power remains with the U.N. mission. But about 1.3 million voters in Kosovo and some 108,000 Kosovo Serbs living in Serbia after fleeing the conflict were eligible to elect representatives to a 120-seat assembly, which will choose a president and a government that holds limited authority. Ten assembly seats are reserved for the Serb minority, Preliminary results from Saturday's vote were expected Monday, and final results a week later. Only a handful of Kosovo Serbs voted in the first half of the day. The rest stayed away as part of a boycott called by those who say the United Nations (news - web sites) and NATO have failed to create an environment in which Serbs can live without fear of attack. Seven months ago, mobs of ethnic Albanians attacked Serbs and their property in riots that killed 19 people and injured more than 900 others. The violence was the worst since the Kosovo war. The polls closed at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT) after 13 hours of voting. Overall turnout two hours before the polls closed was about 43 percent, said Adnan Merovci, head of the election commission. Kosovo's top U.N. administrator, Soeren Jessen-Petersen, toured a largely empty polling station in the northern, mainly Serb town of Kosovska Mitrovica. "Here there are people who have decided not to vote and that is their right," he said. "Some of them may have felt intimidated; that is deeply deplorable." Jessen-Petersen said those who had voted were courageous and he looked forward to working with the elected Serbs to "make sure that their concerns are not only heard, but that we acted upon them." In the province's capital, Pristina, ethnic Albanian voters waited in lines at some polling stations. "Kosovo is heading for elections that will move us closer to European Union (news - web sites) and NATO, and especially toward independence, our main goal," engineer Vehbi Pllana, 57, said after voting. Librarian Gjylymsere Zogaj, 59, had high expectations for the election result. "I voted wishing for the creation of our state," she said. Kosovo's president, Ibrahim Rugova, called the vote "a great and important day for the formal recognition of Kosovo's independence." Lawmakers elected Saturday are likely to lead the province toward talks on Kosovo's final status expected to begin next year. But to most of Kosovo's 100,000 Serbs, Saturday's election held no promise. In the predominantly Serb town of Zvecan, north of Pristina, Serb leaders attended a church service instead of voting, while Serbs in Gracanica, just east of Pristina, lit candles instead of going to the polling stations. "The Serbs understand that these are not our elections and that they are not in our interest," said Milan Ivanovic, a Serb leader in Zvecan. He described the election as a vote for "ethnic Albanian institutions of violence and repression against the Serbs." One of the few who cast ballots in Kosovska Mitrovica was Oliver Ivanovic, a Serb pro-election leader. He said those "who had the courage to take our own destiny into our hands are the moral victors today." In the rest of Serbia, where Serbs displaced from Kosovo could vote, only a handful of ballots were cast. In the central Serbian town of Jagodina, some 100 Kosovo Serbs blocked access to a polling station. Associated Press reporter Jovana Gec in Kosovska Mitrovica contributed to this report.
Serb refugees boycott Kosovo vote BELGRADE, Oct 23 (AFP) - Serb refugees from Kosovo boycotted Saturday's provincial parliamentary election en masse, according to Serbian news reports. In the first five hours of voting only a few individuals had cast their ballots at polling stations in other parts of Serbia, out of more than 100,000 refugees who are eligible to vote, the Tanjug news agency said. Serbs have vowed to boycott the election, the second since the 1998-99 war in the southern Serbian province, citing security fears after NATO peacekeepers failed to stop two days of riots by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority in March. A polling station at one Serbian village read: "Europe, is there any hope when you are calling slaves to vote?" Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has supported the boycott but President Boris Tadic urged Serbs to vote in the UN-backed elections for the sake of better relations with the international community. Kosovo remains technically a province of Serbia although it has been a UN protectorate since NATO intervened to end the war between Serbian security forces and separatist ethnic Albanian guerrillas. Some 200,000 Serbs fled the province of 1.9 million people in the wake of the international intervention, fearing revenge attacks for years of oppression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority by the Serbian government.
Refugee family says Kosovo elections make little sense for them By JOVANA GEC
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ For displaced
Kosovo Serbs Petar Milic and his wife Verica, the province's general elections make little sense. The elderly Serb couple was chased out of their home in Obilic in central Kosovo by ethnic Albanian mobs during March riots that claimed 19 lives and forced thousands of Serbs to leave their homes. They have since lived in a school gymnasium in this northern city. ``I have no one to vote for,'' Petar Milic, 62, said. ``No one is helping us.''
His wife Verica, squatting on a makeshift bed in the corner of the cold basement hall, shrugged her shoulders to the election. ``I will vote when I can wash myself,'' she said bitterly. Most Kosovo Serbs appear to share the Milics' feeling of disillusionment and joined them in an election boycott called because of a lack of security. Saturday's poll, the province's second general election since it was placed under international control in 1999, is widely seen as a crucial test of international efforts at building democracy here. Milics' and others Serbs decision to boycott the vote dealt a blow to those efforts. It's a reflection of the hopelessness many feel. ``I used to have 12 acres (5 hectares) of land, and now I have nothing,'' Petar Milic said. ``I trust no one.''
The Milics, their 24-year-old daughter and dozens of other Obilic Serbs fled their homes on March 18 as ethnic Albanian rioters approached. A NATO armored car brought them to safety while the rioters burned down their homes. The March violence was the worst outburst of ethnically motivated unrest since 1999 and a major setback for Western efforts to turn Kosovo into a tolerant, multiethnic society. Seven months later, only some of those displaced by the riots have returned to their homes. Many have resettled in Serb-dominated parts of Kosovo. But the Milics and several other Obilic residents still live in the Kosovska Mitrovica gym hall, despite promises by the local Serb leaders that their situation will be resolved. Their beds are crammed close to each other, for warmth, and their few belongings are stored neatly along the hall's walls and on the bare wooden floors. ``What you see here is all we have,'' said Verica Milic. ``They (the NATO soldiers) said we had no time to pack our things.'' The Milics said they've turned to everyone for help _ the local Serb leaders, the Serbian government officials and the international community. Their daughter Milica, an economy graduate, has little hope of finding a job. ``We sent her to school, and for what?'' Petar Milic said. ``My heart aches when I see her here.'' Ironically, the Kosovska Mitrovica school also served Saturday as one of the two main polling stations in the northern, Serb-held part of the divided city. Most election officials, journalists and few Serbs who came to school to vote seemed unaware of the Milics' plight. And it might soon get worse. ``The teachers were here the other day,'' Petar Milic said. ``They told us that with the winter approaching, they will have to start using the gym.''
TODAY'S REPORTS ON ELECTIONS: We are enclosing a reports which have appeared today in Serbian edition of the ERP KIM Info-News
KOSOVO ELECTIONS In Kraljevo 33 refugees vote as of 1:00 p.m. KRALJEVO, October 23, 2004 (Beta) - Thirty-three persons have voted in the elections for the Kosovo and Metohija Assembly in Kraljevo as of 1:00 p.m. in the polling station located in the IV Kraljevacki Bataljoni Elementary School. According to the municipal commissioner of the Commissioner's Office for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia, Slobodan Stanisic, elections in Kraljevo are unfolding in orderly fashion and without incident. Approximately 11,000 displaced persons registered voters, as well as displaced persons who have a right to register as voters today, during the elections have the right to vote in the IV Kraljevacki Bataljoni Elementary School polling station. Also voting in the elections for the Kosovo Assembly in Kraljevo were displaced persons who live in the municipality of Kraljevo, approximately 7,500 of whom have the right to vote. In the polling station in Kraljevo, in addition to displaced persons from Kosovo living in the municipality of Kraljevo, displaced persons living in the municipalities of Vrnjacka Banja, Trstenik, Raska, Novi Pazar, Sjenica and Tutin also have the right to vote for deputies in the Kosovo and Metohija Assembly.
Elections for Kosovo and Metohija Assembly unfolding without incident MLADENOVAC, October 23, 2004 14:42 (Beta) - Elections for the Kosovo and Metohija Assembly for displaced persons living in the municipalities of Mladenovac and Arandjelovac are unfolding without incident, Beta new agency has learned. In these municipalities, elections for the Kosovo and Metohija Assembly for displaced persons are being conducted at three polling booths located in the Secondary School in Mladenovac. According to sources at the polls, voting is unfolding without incident. As of 2:00 p.m. 17 voters out of 3,500 with the right to vote in the municipalities of Mladenovac and Arandjelovac cast their votes. Number of Serb voters remains very negligible Zvecan-2, Mitrovica-15, Zubin Potok-70, Leposavic-30 as of 2:00 p.m. (Mitrovica total includes votes of six Serbs in prison) Kososvko Pomoravlje: As of 12:00 noon, 64 Serbs cast their votes Bishop Artemije: Serb participation will be symbolic
WASHINGTON, October 23, 2004 (Tanjug) - Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren stated for Tanjug that he is not sure how many Serbs will be voting in today's elections in Kosovo but that he believes that the number will be symbolic. TANJUG: Western news agencies: Serbs boycott elections
PRISTINA, October 23, 2004 (Tanjug) - The majority of Serbs are boycotting today's parliamentary elections in Kosovo and Metohija, which the Albanian majority population expects will lead to independence, report Western news agencies. NUMBER OF SERBS WHO VOTED NEGLIGIBLE PRISTINA, OCTOBER 23, 2004 /SRNA/ - In Kosovsko Pomoravlje as of 12:00 noon 64 out of a total of 18,200 voters of Serbian nationality cast their vote, advised the Anti-Election Staff. In the biggest Serbian villages - Pasjane, Silovo, Budriza, Cernica, Straza and central Vitina not one voter voted. The biggest turnout has been in Ranilug - 12, Kusac - six, and Partes - eight. At other polling stations for the most part there have been one or two voters at each. According to the same source, the situation is similar in the central part of Kosovo - at the biggest polling station in the village of Bresje near Kosovo Polje, only one voter has voted as of noon; in the village of Ugljare near Kosovo Polje, two voters. In the village of Lepina and in Lipljan not one voter has gone to the polls. According to Anti-Election Staff data, in Kosovska Mitrovica in the Tehcnical School out of 5,956 registered voters as of 1:00 p.m. only three voted. In St. Sava School out of a total of 4,300 registered voters, a total of four voted. In the prison in Mitrovica the six Serbs incarcerated voted. In Banjska out of 600 voters, no one voted, and in Zvecan two out of 3,200 voters cast a vote. More complete information will be provided by the Central Election Commission at a press conference scheduled for 3:15 p.m. /end/vr/da
NO VOTES CAST IN JABLANICA DISTRICT | 13:28 | Source: FoNet
Leskovac - Serbs displaced from Kosovo cannot vote in any of the six municipality of the Jablanica district. In this part of Serbia voting in the Kosovo parliamentary elections was not organized. 3,400 Serbs with the right to vote can vote in Nis. Transportation has not been provided and the voters are responsible for their own travel expenses.
VOTING IN CENTERAL SERBIA, AND MONTENEGRO
| 11:46 | Source: FoNet, Beta
Nis, Kraljevo, Kragujevac... - Polling stations for parliamentary elections in Kosovo were opened at 7:00 a.m. at St. Sava Elementary School in Nis. In Kraljevo as of 9:00 a.m. 10 voters had voted. No one in Sabac voted, and in Kragujevac eight voters went to the polls. In Montenegro as of 12:00 p.m. in five polling stations approximately 10 displaced persons from Kosovo cast their votes. In Bar and Sutor in two polling stations three voters voted; in Niksic, there were seven; and in Podgorica, two. Serbs displaced from Kosovo can also vote at five polling booths in the Bora Stankovic Secondary School in Vranje. Approximately 5,000 Serbs there have the right to vote.
SERB FAILURE TO VOTE - COMPLETELY EXPECTED REACTION PRISTINA, OCTOBER 23, 2004 /SRNA/ - The leader of the Serbian Resistance Movement (SPOT) Momcilo Trajkovic told SRNA today that Serb failure to vote in the parliamentary elections in Kosovo and Metohija is "a completely expected reaction because even minimal conditions for going to the polls do not exist". "Serbs are not against elections but they against rules of a game that makes them only things in the Kosovo system," said Trajkovic, who lit a candle in the monastery of Gracanica. According to Momcilo Trajkovic, those who agreed to vote today will receive the response that they are not legitimate representatives of the Serbian people. "I believe that today's elections will signal the end of Serbian disunity," emphasized Trajkovic. The president of the executive board of the Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo, Milan Ivanovic, told SRNA that Serbs had decided not to vote in the elections because they do not see anything positive in them for the survival of Serbdom in Kosovo. "Instead of going to the polls today Serbs in north Kosovo are lighting candles in their churches. Many polling booths are still closed," emphasized Milan Ivanovic, who lit a candle in the church in Zvecan. He said that "the Serb candidates in this election enjoy such great influence and trust among the people that they cannot get a single person each to fill out a control ballot". "We are demonstrating great unity that is necessary to us, which advocates of Serb participation in these elections attempted to undermine. I am convinced that starting tomorrow the Serbs will be far more unified," says Milan Ivanovic /end/vr/da
EIGHT REFUGEES VOTE KRAGUJEVAC, OCTOBER 23, 2004 /SRNA/ - Ethnic Albanian Agim Saku from the village of Trebovic near Pec, a refugee after the NATO attack in spring of 1999 who found shelter in the Karadjordjev Dom refugee center in Raca near Kragujevac, voted today in Kragujevac shortly after 11:00 a.m. for one of the Kosovo lists in the elections for the Kosovo parliament. Arriving with Agim Saku to vote were four other refugees from the collective center in Raca, among them one Serb, Dejan Jablancic from Istok near Pec. Jablancic and Saku said that they came to vote because they want the situation in Kosovo to change so they can go back to their abandoned homes. In addition to the five refugees from Raca, as of 11:30 a.m. in the polling station in Kragujevac in the Moma Stanojlovic Elementary School three other persons voted, giving a total of eight. Members of the election board say that they do not expect more than 20 voters to vote by 8:00 p.m. even though this polling station covers 10,000 potential voters for the Kosovo and Metohija elections - 7,500 in Kragujevac, Batocina, Lapovo, Raca and Knic, plus 2,500 potential voters from the Pomoravlje municipality of Svilajnac. Voters from Topola and Arandjelovac are voting in Mladenovac. The chairwoman of the election board in Kragujevac Slavica Stefanovic says that elections for now are taking place without incident and that they are being monitored in Kragujevac by three observers from the European Union and four from OSCE. According to information given to SRNA by Miloje Zivanovic, the commissioner for refugees in Raca, at least ten or so more displaced persons will be coming from the Karadjordjev Dom collective center in Raca to vote in Kragujevac. In the collective center there are 38 refugees of Muslim religion, 28 of whom are Albanian; the rest are Roma. The new local government in Raca is comprised by the Democratic Party and the Serbian Renewal Movement. Both these parties have called on voters to vote in the Kosovo and Metohija parliamentary elections. /end/dr-ss First reports show Serb voter turnout even lower than expected ERP KIM Info Service
Gracanica, October 23, 2004 According to first reports the turnout by Kosovo Serbs in today's provincial elections is even lower than expected. According to information received thus far by the ERP KIM Info Service in Gracanica the number of Serbs using the right to vote in Kosovo or other parts of Serbia is limited to a few dozen voters. Observers are especially surprised by the fact that Serb leaders who are on the ballot appear to have an extremely small number of supporters and consequently can hardly be called authentic representatives of the people. Many Serbs expressed their protest against the elections, which are being held under extremely undemocratic conditions, in barbed wire and with strong protection by KFOR troops, through peaceful means, gathering in churches and lighting candles. So far there have been no serious incidents and voting is expected to unfold in a peaceful atmosphere. In their statements for the numerous reporters covering the elections, most Serbs are saying they decided not to participate in elections because their previous trip to the polls in the elections of 2001 only brought more suffering to the Serbian community, adding that they do not wish to give their vote to the rule of ethnic violence and terror being conducted under UN administration. UNMIK representatives are actively urging citizens to vote. Messages to vote are even being sent in the form of SMS messages and by way of the Kosovo mobile telephone network VALA 900.
Staletovic: Polling stations opened without problems GRACANICA, October 23, 2004. 12:10 (Beta) - The deputy head of the Secretariat of the Central Election Commission for Kosovo, Bogoljub Staletovic, stated today that all polling stations opened "without problems" in Serbian settlements. "There were some technical difficulties but after they were fixed, the polling stations opened in accordance with regulations," Staletovic told Beta news agency. There are 13 polling centers in Serbian settlements in Pristina municipality, 10 in Lipljan municipality, and six polling centers each in Kosovo Polje and Obilic. In King Milutin Elementary School in Gracanica where there are polling stations, a total of five (5) voters voted before 12:00 noon out of 4,200 registered voters. At 10:00 a.m. candidates on the Serbian List for Kosovo, Randjel Nojkic and Slavisa Kostic, cast their votes, and later on three other voters cast their votes who said they were members of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). In Laplje Selo none of approximately 3,000 registered voters had voted by noon in the three polling booths at Miladin Mitic Elementary School. The situation is the same in Donja Gusterica, where there are 3,030 registered voters; as of noon, none have voted. In Gracanica and Laplje Selo candidates on the Serbian List for Kosovo, Slavisa Nedeljkovic and Sasa Djokic had not voted before noon. Members of the election body stated that the voting commission did not receive a list of the candidates on the Serbian List for Kosovo. There are no problems with the voting problems. Police vehicles are parked in front of the polling statiosn, and there are visibly reinforced police controls on local routes. This morning at about 9:00 a.m. a group of about 100 Serbs lit candles in the monastery of Gracanica. The group was headed by members of the anti-election staff, Rada Trajkovic and Dragan Velic, who said that by doing so they were "expressing their loyalty to Patriarch Pavle and the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church".
Few Serbs voters in Kosovska Mitrovica
to 10:00 a.m. KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, October 23, 2004 11:10 (Beta) - In six municipalities in north Kosovo this morning all polling booths were opened, and in three polling stations in north Kosovska Mitrovica it was observed that few people voted. Kosovo Assembly deputy speaker Oliver Ivanovic voted at 10:15 a.m. in St. Sava Elementary School. In Kosovska Mitrovica there are 23 polling stations with 85 polling booths, and there are 67,485 registered voters. In the Serbian language area elections are organized in three polling stations, two in Kosovska Mitrovica and one in Zvecan for the displaced residents of the village of Svinjare. Albanians in north Kosovska Mitrovica are voting in three polling stations, in Bosnjacka Mahala and the Microsettlement. There are a total of about 2,500 Albanians living in north Mitrovica. In the Kosovska Mitrovica region there are 184,444 registered voters. There have been no incidents at the polling booths and members of the Kosovo Police Service and UNMIK police are patrolling the city. The Serbs who are boycotting the elections in response to an appeal by the Serbian Orthodox Church attended liturgy this morning in the church of St. George served by local priests.
Poor voter turnout in Montenegro PODGORICA, October 23, 2004 12:10 (Beta) - In Montenegro as of noon in five polling stations approximately ten (10) displaced persons from Kosovo cast their votes. In Bar and Sutomor three voters voted at two polling stations, the representative of the Kosmet Association of Displaced Persons, Milenko Jovanovic, told Beta news agency. In Niksic seven (7) people voted by noon, said the president of the voting station in that city, Slobodan Andrijasevic, while in Podgorica two (2) displaced persons voted by noon. The president of the Ognjiste Society of Displaced Persons in Podgorica Vladislav Raickovic, told Beta news agency that he "wasn't interested" in Kosovo elections, and that "next to no turnout" should be expected in Montenegro. Raickovic said that voting in these elections was "humiliation" and that displaced persons cannot vote "for the same institutions that expelled the Serbs from Kosovo".
In north Kosovo overwhelming majority of Serbs is not voting ERP KIM Info Service
Kosovska Mitrovica, October 23, 2004 (12:18) According to regional TV Most as of 12:00 noon a total of 12 voters had voted in north Mitrovica. Oliver Ivanovic voted at 11:00 a.m. while Milan Ivanovic protested against the elections by going to the church of St. George in Zvecan. In Leposavic, also according to TV Most, a total of 25 voters cast their votes.
The police has reinforced its presence in north Mitrovica. As well, there is a large number of reporters and correspondents representing foreign and Serbian media.
In central Kosovo the situation is similar. In Strpce, for example, according to our information so far no one has voted.
According to Radio Television Serbia, all polling stations in central Serbia were opened without incident except in Jagodina where a group of demonstrators blocked the opening of the polling station.
All media agree that the turnout is negligible, less than 1% so far.
All eyes turned to Kosovska Mitrovica ERP KIM Info Service
Gracanica October 23, 2004 According to unofficial information UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen is expected to visit St. Sava School in north Kosovska Mitrovica at about 4:00 p.m. today. According to the same sources local UNMIK representatives have strongly urged UNMIK headquarters that his visit is not a good idea and that the Serbian population, which opposes the elections, would interpret his visit as an open provocation. According to the same unofficial information there is a large number of U.S. diplomats in south Mitrovica with the U.S. ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro, Michael Polt, also reportedly being seen.
NEWS - TANJUG 13:10 KOSOVO-ELECTIONS-BOYCOTT/DMUP
Agencies: Serbs boycott elections
PRISTINA, October 23 (Tanjug) - The majority of Serbs are boycotting today's parliamentary elections in Kosovo and Metohija, which the majority Albanian population expects will lead to independence, Western agencies report.
13:02 JAGODINA-KOSOVO-ELECTIONS /DP
In Jagodina no voting as of noon
JAGODINA, October 23 (Tanjug) - In Jagodina, where about 5,000 displaced people from Kosovo and Metohija with the right to vote presently in Jagodina, Paracin, Cuprija, Despotovac and Rekovac could have cast their ballots today, voting did not begin as of noon because about one hundred people were blocking the polling station. 10:40 JAGODINA-KOSOVO-ELECTIONS/DP
Voting station blocked in Jagodina
JAGODINA, October 23 (Tanjug) - A group of approximately 20 displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija refused to allow the opening of the polling station in Jagodina this morning where displaced persons presently in five out of six municipalities in the Pomoravlje district were supposed to have voted for deputies in the provincial assembly.
RADIO KIM NEWS http://www.kimradio.net Pristina-Elections Adnan Merovci, the head of the Central Election Commission, confirmed that as of 10:00 a.m. approximately 5 percent of the 1,412,000 citizens in Kosovo and Metohija with the right to vote had cast their ballots. The best turnout has been in Pristina, where 13 percent of registered voters had voted by noon. Sources in the Commission confirmed that Serb turnout was minimal and that at most polling stations no one at all had voted. Elections in Kosovo and Metohija are unfolding without incident, as confirmed by UNMIK police spokesman Neeraj Singh. So far in Pristina Ibrahim Rugova, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj have cast their votes, as has the head of the new political party "Ora", Veton Surroi. One polling station in Pristina was opened by a high official of the Counci of Europe, Doris Pack, who called on citizens to vote because, she said, this is a day of historical importance for the province, and citizens need to vote so their representatives can influence the outcome of their own futures. KIM Radio has learned from Dragan Stolic, the representative of the Central Election Commission in Pristina that out of 130 Serbs with the right to vote as of 1:00 p.m. none have gone to the polling booths. He said that six members of the Kosovo Police Service who are not on the voting list exercised their right to vote in absentia. The head of the Anti-Election Staff Milan Ivanovic says that as of 11:00 a.m. a total of 23 Serbs had voted in Kosovo and Metohija. OSCE spokesman Sven Lindholm said at as of 11:00 a.m. a total of 82 Serbs had voted in 20 polling stations in Serbia and Montenegro. Gorazdevac-elections One polling station was opened in Gorazdevac this morning. There are 780 registered voters but as of 10:30 a.m. none of them had voted. This number includes the Roma settlement of Piraja near Gorazdevac. Returnees from Belo Polje and Brestovik will be able to exercise their right to vote with the help of mobile teams, reports KIM Radio correspondent Darko Dimitrijevic. Gracanica-elections In Gracanica this morning polling booths were opened for the vote for the Kosovo and Metohija Assembly. As of 10:00 a.m. not one voter had exercised his or her right to vote. The first to arrive at the polls at about 10:00 a.m. was Randjel Nojkic, still a deputy in the Kosovo Assembly, and the president of the provincial board of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). Voting immediately after him was Slavisa Kostic, former mayor of the municipality of Pristina. Nojkic told reporters who were present that last night a shop owned by Mirce Jakovljevic of Obilic, a member of the executive board of the SPO, was vandalized. At the same time, in front of the monument on the plateau in the center of Gracanica, some 30 local residents gathered who, led by Rada Trajkovic and Dragan Velic, went to the Church to light candles for the salvation of the Serbian people as an appeal, they said, that Serbs should not vote in the elections. Polling stations were also opened this morning in Laplje Selo and Ugljare but according to KIM Radio information as of 9:30 a.m. no one had exercised his or her right to vote. TOP
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The views expressed by the authors of newspaper articles or other texts which are not official communiqués or news reports by the Diocese are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Serbian Orthodox Church Additional information on our Diocese and the life of the Kosovo Serb Community may be found at: http://www.kosovo.net If you want to unsubscribe go to the page: http://www.kosovo.net/erpkiminfo.html
Copyright 2004, ERP KIM Info-Service
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