MACEDONIA: TROUBLED START TO ELECTION CAMPAIGN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SKOPJE 000328 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO MK SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: TROUBLED START TO ELECTION CAMPAIGN REF: SKOPJE 314 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: POLOFF NEISULER FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). SUMMARY ¶1. (SBU) The State Electoral Committee (SEC) gave the green light to the May 11 election campaign kick-off (reftel) with the publication of the 18 candidate lists. Tensions rose in northwest Macedonia, where ethnic Albanian parties DUI and, to a far lesser extent, DPA have suffered a number of violent incidents, including shots and grenades fired into offices, abductions, beatings, and arson. DPA appears to be the main perpetrator of violence. A May 12 drive-by shooting, resulting in one person wounded, at DUI President Ahmeti's motorcade has been characterized by DUI as an attempt on the life of their leader, while DPA countered that the incident was a DUI set-up. Strong GOM and IC condemnation of the violence, and police action to arrest the perpetrators, have calmed passions somewhat. Election monitors are warning that an atmosphere of fear has been created in the eAlbanian towns and countryside. Ethnic Macedonian SDSM has labeled governing VMRO pressure tactics as "a more sophisticated version" of the intimidation and violence demonstrated by VMRO's eAlbanian partner DPA. End summary. 90% OF MACEDONIA'S POPULATION ELIGIBLE TO VOTE?.. -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The official parliamentary election campaign began May 11, with the SEC confirming the participation of 18 parties and coalitions. (Note: VMRO-Narodna, which had originally submitted its candidate list, was disqualified for irregularities in the submission of their application. End note.) The voter registry puts the number of eligible voters at 1.74 million --35,000 more voters than in 2006-- a highly improbable number in a country whose overall population is just over 2 million. In a May 13 meeting with the Charge and EUSR Fouere, SEC President Josifovski (who is considered to be close to ruling VMRO) said he believed the voter list was accurate and emphasized he had not received any complaints regarding "any missing or invalid names." (Comment: The excess registered voters are, in fact, comprised of the deceased, diaspora, and others who once were registered but who are now ineligible or unable to vote. End comment.) ELECTION-RELATED INCIDENTS -- DUI/DPA SHOOTINGS... -------------- -------------- 
¶3. (SBU) Over the weekend, media reported on the May 10 beating of DUI activists and drive-by shootings at four DUI offices in Western Macedonia. On May 12, the Charge called DPA President Thaci and DUI President Ahmeti to express his concern about these cases of election-related violence. Disagreeing with suggestions that the incidents were instigated mainly by DPA activists, Thaci accused DUI's supporters of "pretending to be attacked" and alleged that DUI had appealed to Kosovars to come "and wreak havoc" in Macedonia. Opining that these were all cases of criminal activity, Thaci pledged to make a public statement calling on his supporters not to provoke any incidents. (Note: He has not yet done so almost a week later. End note.) ¶4. (SBU) In a separate call, Ahmeti claimed he had just survived an assassination attempt in the village of Rakovica near Tetovo in Northwestern Macedonia. Distressed, Ahmeti asked if the U.S. could guarantee his safety, saying he was considering whether he should withdraw from the campaign. The Charge encouraged Ahmeti to ask for extra security from the MOI. Referring to recent media reports about DUI calls for "federalization" of the country, the Charge said such positions were risky, in light of Kosovo developments, and unacceptable. Ahmeti assured us that DUI did not advocate federalization, and noted that DUI's platform is based on equal rights for eAlbanians and eMacedonias, and on preserving Macedonia's territorial integrity, and guaranteed that "not a single individual from outside of Macedonia will be part of the DUI campaign." (Comment: In 2006, similar rumors and concerns that DUI would bring in people from Kosovo proved unfounded. End comment.) ...THEATRICS: DUI PROTEST CLOSES SCHOOLS SKOPJE 00000328 002 OF 003 -------------- ¶5. (C) On May 13, DUI held a protest in the Tetovo city square under the motto "Stop the violence!" Several thousand DUI supporters attended the peaceful protest where DUI's leadership appealed for eAlbanian unity and predicted that "no force will stop us on the way to fulfill the promise." DUI election headquarters chief Mexhiti called "the assassination attempt on Ahmeti the culmination of state and party brutality." Despite the protest's message against violence and weapons, media reported May 14 that, during the event, groups of armed DPA and DUI activists silently faced each other from opposite sides of the Tetovo square. The protest was delayed due to a cut in the power supply. Power, which DPA's Thaci had ordered shut off, was restored after a phone call to Thaci, the Prime Minister confided to the Ambassador in a May 15 meeting. ¶6. (SBU) Media reported May 13 that, on the orders of the DUI local authorities, the schools of Gostivar, Tearce, Struga and Debar, were closed. Gostivar mayor Bejta confirmed to us May 14 that he had ordered the closure to all schools and municipal authority offices since he considered the situation on May 13 following the shooting incident involving Ahmeti's car "dangerous to the children's security." In Debar, students were reportedly ordered to leave the classrooms without an explanation. The DPA-run Ministry of Education plans to penalize the schools and teachers involved for the "illegal" school interruptions. STRONG GOM PUBLIC REACTION... -------------- ¶7. (C) In a May 12 meeting with PolChief, PM's Chief of Staff Protoger asked for USG help "to deal with the two eAlbanian parties." Assessing both Thaci and Ahmeti as "nervous" about the campaign and Election Day, Protoger suggested Post pressure the Ministry of Interior (MOI) to rotate out the special police Alpha Units from Tetovo and Gostivar and replace them with Alphas from other areas. Concerned about the shooting aimed at Ahmeti, the Ambassador contacted the Prime Minister from Washington late May 12. Pledging to take appropriate actions, PM Gruevski held a meeting with Thaci May 13, after which he said "there will be no partisan protection for anyone." President Crvenkovski added May 13 that "any type of violence is absolutely unacceptable." ...PROMPT POLICE ARRESTS -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Following intensive Embassy mediation between the MOI and DUI, DUI witnesses went to the police late May 13 to identify one of the suspects in the shooting of Ahmeti's car. Despite DUI's unenthusiastic cooperation with the police, the MOI pressed charges against 31-year-old Faruk Ilazi, arrested on suspicion of participating in the armed attack on Ahmeti, as well as against 28-year-old fugitive Vullnet Xhelili. On May 14, the investigative judge sentenced both suspects to 30-day custody; later that day, Xhelili turned himself in to police in Tetovo. SEC AND ELECTION MONITORS ARE WORRIED -------------- ¶9. (SBU) In a May 14 meeting with PolChief, MOST president Aleksov expressed "serious concerns" about the security situation in northwest Macedonia, which may lead the election monitoring NGO to decide against deploying observers to those areas. Going through a list of incidents --including setting of cars on fire and armed thug patrols on the streets-- reported by MOST observers in the field, Aleksov predicted Gostivar would be the "real hot spot" of the elections. Although traditionally DUI territory, DPA is making inroads and is getting ready to compete fiercely with DUI, Aleksov said. Aleksov's concerns echoed what SEC President Josifovski told Charge on May 13. Josifovski added that Local Election Board members in the area are frightened to serve on the boards, and were finding reasons to be excluded from service. SDSM: GOM INTIMIDATION AND SDPM CLONE ARE TROUBLING -------------- -------------- SKOPJE 00000328 003 OF 003 ¶10. (SBU) In a May 13 meeting with the Charge, SDSM President Sekerinska compared eMacedonian rival VMRO's "philosophy of intimidation" as "identical to that of DPA, only more sophisticated." She talked about two incidents against the property of SDSM activists in Veles and Bitola, which she considered part of the GOM's "attack on the opposition," although the police considered the attacks "unrelated to the elections." Complaining about the GOM's "unequal media exposure," Sekerinska said VMRO wanted the public to think "the elections are over, because we --VMRO-- are going to win big." (Note: In the meantime, on May 13, the Broadcasting Council penalized Sitel, A1 and Kanal 5 TV stations for breaching the Broadcasting Law related to elections. The penalties ranged from a warning to a ban on the airing of TV ads for three days. End note.) ¶11. (SBU) Sekerinska protested against the SEC's "legalistic reading" of the law in allowing clone SDPM's registration (reftel),despite the party's clear intention to mislead SDSM voters. Since SDPM's president, Branko Janevski, is a VMRO government-appointed head of a department with the Ministry of Labor, Sekerinska concluded "that proves SDPM is a VMRO creation." In his meeting with the Charge, SEC President Josifovski defended the SEC's decision, adding that responsibility for dealing with fraud issues falls to the Public Prosecutor's office and the Commission for the Protection of Personal Data, which had already filed a complaint. He committed, however, to raise the issue with the whole SEC before the election ballots are printed. The Ambassador and EUSR pressed the PM May 15 to take action to resolve this. COMMENT ¶12. (C) Shootings and an alleged "assassination attempt" on Ahmeti characterized the first hours after the May 11 election campaign kick off. Prompt International Community and GOM condemnation of the violence and efficient police action have managed to calm things down a bit. A credible source told us that Prime Minister Gruevski told DPA that --if they won just three or fewer MP seats than DUI-- the PM would include DPA again in the next coalition, making it imperative for DPA to win the elections, seemingly at any cost. MILOVANOVIC