SERBIAN ELECTIONS IN KOSOVO: NO INCIDENTS, RADICAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000054

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2012
TAGS: KCRM KDEM PGOV PINR PREL YI UNMIK EAID PHUM
SOCI
SUBJECT: SERBIAN ELECTIONS IN KOSOVO: NO INCIDENTS, RADICAL
PARTY SUPPORT DECLINES IN FAVOR OF DS, DSS

REF: A. PRISTINA 50


B. 06 PRISTINA 905

C. 06 PRISTINA 985


1. (C) SUMMARY. Kosovo Serbs voted peacefully at polling
stations throughout Kosovo in the Serbian parliamentary
elections on January 21. There were no significant
incidents. Preliminary results indicate that Kosovo Serb
support for the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) has fallen
markedly since the last elections in 2003, with the residual
votes going to democratic parties including the DS and DSS.
At least one prominent Kosovo Serb, Goran Bogdanovic, won a
seat in the Serbian parliament, but told us that he might not
accept it. END SUMMARY.

KOSOVO SERBS VOTED PEACEFULLY AND UNIMPEDED


2. (C) On January 21, USOP informal monitoring teams
deployed around Kosovo observed Kosovo Serbs voting
peacefully and unimpeded in the Serbian parliamentary
elections at polling stations in Serb majority villages and
towns throughout Kosovo. While we did not see large crowds
of voters, we noted a constant stream of activity around
polling stations, with people coming in and out and enjoying
the beautiful sunny day, with temperatures in the sixties.
The vote was highly contested (Ref A),and villages were
plastered with competing election posters and graffiti from
parties ranging from the Serbian Radical Party (SRS),Serbian
President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS),the Democratic
Party of Serbia (DSS),Serbian PM Vojislav Kostunica's
Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS),Socialists, the Serbian
Renewal Movement (SPO),G17 Plus, and others.


3. (C) Kosovo Police Service (KPS) presence was minimal but
visible, while KFOR was out in force (7,500 personnel
Kosovo-wide plus air assets). The only incident reported was
one in Babin Most (Obiliq/Obilic municipality),in which a
ballot box broke and some ballots fell out when a Kosovo Serb
tried to throw the box into the street. Serb polling
officials closed the polling station.

KOSOVO SERBS TURNED AWAY FROM THE RADICALS


4. (C) According to preliminary unofficial results from the
OSCE, 48.6 percent of eligible Kosovo Serbs voted in the
election, compared to 90 percent in the October referendum on
the Serbian constitution. (NOTE. All of our observation
teams noted a much higher turnout during the January 21
election than during the October referendum (Ref B).
However, the fact that voting was more compacted this time
(taking place on just one day compared to two in October)
could explain the perceived difference in turnout. END
NOTE).


5. (C) Although Kosovo has traditionally been a radical
party stronghold, preliminary results indicate that support
for the SRS has fallen among Kosovo Serbs. Unofficial
results from the OSCE show that the majority of Kosovo Serbs
voted for the DSS.


6. (C) At least one prominent Kosovo Serb -- Goran
Bogdanovic of the DS and the Serbian List for Kosovo and
Metohija (SLKM) -- won a seat in the parliament. However,
Bogdanovic told us on January 22 that he may not accept the
seat because he would prefer to focus on Kosovo (as opposed
to Serbian state) politics. SLKM leader Oliver Ivanovic,
head of Nebojsa Covic's Social Democratic Party (SDP),
bemoaned the fact that his party has lost significant support
since the last parliamentary election in 2003, when it
received 16.7 percent of votes. Ivanovic did not win a seat
because his party -- with only 4.6 percent of votes -- did
not even reach the minimum five percent threshold.


7. (C) Ever since Kostunica ousted Covic from his position
as chief of Belgrade's Coordination Center for Kosovo and

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Metohija (CCK) and replaced him with DSS hard-liner Sanda
Raskovic-Ivic, the popularity and power of the DSS has been
rising in Kosovo, at the expense of Covic's SDP. The CCK is
the primary mechanism by which the Serbian government funnels
financial support to Kosovo Serbs (Ref C). Just days before
the election, Raskovic-Ivic was in northern Kosovo
inaugurating several new CCK-funded sites, including 30 new
apartments for staff at the Serb parallel university in
northern Mitrovica, as well as a new economic faculty, two
departments of the art faculty, a student parliament and a
school for children with special needs.

ALBANIAN REACTION MUTED


8. (C) Reaction by Kosovo Albanians to the election was
muted. According to media reports, Kosovo Deputy Prime
Minister Lutfi Haziri commented that this was, in his view,
the last time Kosovo Serbs would vote in a Serbian election.
Out in the villages, Kosovo Albanians gladly and even
cheerfully pointed us towards out-of-the-way Kosovo Serb
polling stations.


9. (C) COMMENT. Kosovo Serbs appear to have shifted their
support away from the Radicals and towards Kostunica's DSS,
which in the past year has consolidated its control over the
financial resources Kosovo Serbs receive from the Serbian
government. Our sense is that Kosovo Serbs seem to harbor no
more illusions that the Radical Party will, as it has
promised, "fight" to keep Kosovo in Serbia. Kostunica and
his DSS have also told Kosovo Serbs what they want to hear --
that they will keep Kosovo in Serbia -- which Serbs choose to
believe despite ample evidence that such an outcome would be
untenable for the long-term. END COMMENT.


10. (U) Post clears this message in its entirety for
release to Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
KAIDANOW