Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07PRISTINA782
2007-11-16 17:11:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Pristina
Cable title:
KOSOVO: CALM CAMPAIGN CLOSES WITHOUT PROVOCATIVE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L PRISTINA 000782
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, AND EUR/SCE, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN FOR
DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV KDEM UNMIK YI KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: CALM CAMPAIGN CLOSES WITHOUT PROVOCATIVE
STATEMENTS ON STATUS
REF: PRISTINA 775
Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L PRISTINA 000782
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, AND EUR/SCE, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN FOR
DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV KDEM UNMIK YI KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: CALM CAMPAIGN CLOSES WITHOUT PROVOCATIVE
STATEMENTS ON STATUS
REF: PRISTINA 775
Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).
1. (C) SUMMARY: The three-week campaign period ended on
November 15 with most talk of Kosovo's status being
successfully kept out of the fray. The pre-election deal
struck among the main K-Albanian parties held and kept the
tone of discussion of non-status issues positive for much of
the campaign. While the press has been filled with the usual
wave of pre-election promises and one-upmanship, parties
showed a notable degree of political maturity and discipline
regarding status. The uncertainty surrounding voting
outcomes for the various parties also helped forestall
vicious inter-party attacks, since all main political players
understand that no one party will dominate and
coalition-making will likely be fluid. END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) Kosovo's three-week election campaign period ended
on November 15 with a predictable burst of activity and
political stunts, including a 58-meter pizza for ORA, the
Veton Surroi-led party at number 58 on the Kosovo Assembly
ballot. Cars and buses with party billboards careened around
Pristina, with campaigners shouting slogans over
loudspeakers. The press has been full of party ads, with
main opposition party PDK in particular filling newspapers
with glossy half- and full-page ads for its Kosovo Assembly
and mayoral candidates.
3. (SBU) During the campaign, parties made big and mainly
fabricated promises -- increasing employment, fighting
corruption, supporting independence -- but they stuck to
their agreement not to make provocative statements about
status or unhelpfully set a date for declaring independence.
The pre-election agreement, which included the main ethnic
Albanian political parties of LDK, PDK, AAK, and ORA, also
seemed to set the tone for parties to run positive, rather
than attack-oriented, campaigns. There was little
mud-slinging between LDK and PDK, which by conventional
wisdom are battling for first place and have been at times
bitter rivals; PDK leader Thaci held back his worst
criticisms of the current LDK-led government, hoping to
create a conducive environment for a possible LDK-PDK
coalition should the numbers support such an outcome.
Rather, it was Bexhet Pacolli's AKR that bore the brunt of
political attacks from all sides, mostly for its leader's
alleged ties to Russia and the former Milosevic regime.
4. (C) COMMENT: It is noteworthy that the major parties
managed not to exploit Kosovo's single most emotional issue
-- status -- for political purposes during the campaign. No
part of the Ahtisaari plan, whether decentralization or
additional rights for the Kosovo Serb community, came under
attack during the weeks of party jostling. The pre-election
agreement, initiated by President Sejdiu, bears some of the
credit for keeping things relatively civil, but even more
compelling was the understanding that even former rivals may
need to consider coalition arrangements if the voting
outcomes break that way. USOP will monitor election-day
events closely and report on the conduct of elections and
early results, some of which could come as soon as Sunday,
November 18 (reftel),though only informally. END COMMENT.
KAIDANOW
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, AND EUR/SCE, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN FOR
DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV KDEM UNMIK YI KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: CALM CAMPAIGN CLOSES WITHOUT PROVOCATIVE
STATEMENTS ON STATUS
REF: PRISTINA 775
Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).
1. (C) SUMMARY: The three-week campaign period ended on
November 15 with most talk of Kosovo's status being
successfully kept out of the fray. The pre-election deal
struck among the main K-Albanian parties held and kept the
tone of discussion of non-status issues positive for much of
the campaign. While the press has been filled with the usual
wave of pre-election promises and one-upmanship, parties
showed a notable degree of political maturity and discipline
regarding status. The uncertainty surrounding voting
outcomes for the various parties also helped forestall
vicious inter-party attacks, since all main political players
understand that no one party will dominate and
coalition-making will likely be fluid. END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) Kosovo's three-week election campaign period ended
on November 15 with a predictable burst of activity and
political stunts, including a 58-meter pizza for ORA, the
Veton Surroi-led party at number 58 on the Kosovo Assembly
ballot. Cars and buses with party billboards careened around
Pristina, with campaigners shouting slogans over
loudspeakers. The press has been full of party ads, with
main opposition party PDK in particular filling newspapers
with glossy half- and full-page ads for its Kosovo Assembly
and mayoral candidates.
3. (SBU) During the campaign, parties made big and mainly
fabricated promises -- increasing employment, fighting
corruption, supporting independence -- but they stuck to
their agreement not to make provocative statements about
status or unhelpfully set a date for declaring independence.
The pre-election agreement, which included the main ethnic
Albanian political parties of LDK, PDK, AAK, and ORA, also
seemed to set the tone for parties to run positive, rather
than attack-oriented, campaigns. There was little
mud-slinging between LDK and PDK, which by conventional
wisdom are battling for first place and have been at times
bitter rivals; PDK leader Thaci held back his worst
criticisms of the current LDK-led government, hoping to
create a conducive environment for a possible LDK-PDK
coalition should the numbers support such an outcome.
Rather, it was Bexhet Pacolli's AKR that bore the brunt of
political attacks from all sides, mostly for its leader's
alleged ties to Russia and the former Milosevic regime.
4. (C) COMMENT: It is noteworthy that the major parties
managed not to exploit Kosovo's single most emotional issue
-- status -- for political purposes during the campaign. No
part of the Ahtisaari plan, whether decentralization or
additional rights for the Kosovo Serb community, came under
attack during the weeks of party jostling. The pre-election
agreement, initiated by President Sejdiu, bears some of the
credit for keeping things relatively civil, but even more
compelling was the understanding that even former rivals may
need to consider coalition arrangements if the voting
outcomes break that way. USOP will monitor election-day
events closely and report on the conduct of elections and
early results, some of which could come as soon as Sunday,
November 18 (reftel),though only informally. END COMMENT.
KAIDANOW