UNMIK-OSCE-EU Press Briefing: 27 October
2000
UNMIK Spokeswoman Claire
Trevena
OSCE Spokesman Roland Bless
EU Spokesman Christian
Lindmeier
UNMIK Spokeswoman Claire Trevena
Good Morning, As of today KFOR will not be participating in the Friday press briefing – they will obviously still be available for questions later – they will continue to participate in Monday and Wednesday’s briefing.
Elections
There is just one day left until the election – and the main issue which has arisen is that of the flag flying at polling stations. SRSG Bernard Kouchner has endorsed the decision reached yesterday at a meeting of the Political Party Consultative Forum, chaired by OSCE Ambassador Daan Everts, which is:
“On election day, 28 October 2000, flags of all communities in Kosovo will be permitted on and around polling stations where members of these communities participate in the voting. Inside the polling stations NO flags or symbols other than of UNMIK and OSCE are permitted.”
This means that flags of those communities which are participating in the election can fly outside the poling stations in the regions where they are voting. Inside the polling stations only UN and OSCE flags are allowed.
As you know this issue was discussed in several fora – IAC, KTC and finally at the PPCF. Views of all communities were heard.
This is an inclusive decision which will allow all communities' flags to be seen.
It is however very unfortunate that the issue of flags has taken over from the real issue of the election – that this is the first time Kosovars have been able to vote in free and fair democratic elections. Tomorrow it is not an issue of which flag should fly, but that people go to the polls to vote - for those people who are going to run their communities for the next two years.
This is an internationally organized and monitored election. What the vote will be judged on is how well conducted the election is. The fact that flags may be flying could be detrimental to the perception of the election in the rest of the world.
As you are most likely all aware there will be regular media briefings at the OSCE’s election media centre throughout the day tomorrow. At 8 p.m., one hour after the polls have closed, the SRSG Dr Bernard Kouchner and the OSCE’s Ambassador Daan Everts will give a briefing on what has happened throughout the day.
During the day, Dr Kouchner will be visiting polling stations in Prizren, Dragas and Pristina.
Results and all election information will be provided at the OSCE’s Election Media Centre.
Roland has also reminded you to be patient if you are trying to cover the story at polling stations. There are thousands of observers on the ground and they will also be inside the polling stations. Fair, balanced media coverage is part of the democratic process, but not at the expense of people’s ability to vote, or observers’ ability to ensure voting is done freely.
Kouchner
Today, Dr Kouchner opened a second resource centre for information on missing and detained people. This is in Gracanica -- the first one is here in Pristina, on the north side of this building. This will be supplemented by a mobile team going through the Serb communities of Kosovo. Dr Kouchner will also meet with Bishop Artemije in Gracanica
Yesterday he visited Kosovo B power plant to see the progress being made on the overhaul there and to assess the power situation as Kosovo heads to winter. Just to clarify one point from Wednesday’s briefing – B1 has not had an overhaul; it has been shut for repairs many times but not for a complete re-fit.
Crime
There is an investigation into a grenade attack on a Roma area in Vucitrn/Vusshtri just before midnight last night. One person was injured and a building was damaged; two further grenades were discovered outside.
UNMIK police in Urosevac/Ferizaj are investigating an alleged arson attack in which the home of a 65-year-old Bosnian woman was completely destroyed by fire.
In Mitrovica an Albanian man who lives in the north of the town was attacked outside a bar by a number of Serb men. The individual was taken to hospital for treatment.
A 16-year-old who was carrying out door security at the Gjilan technical school was approached by a 15-year-old. He took him to the back of the building to talk; they were joined by an adult. The 16-year-old was repeatedly stabbed and is now in a critical condition at hospital. Two people have been arrested in relation to the incident.
Mitrovica
The new UNMIK Regional Administrator of Mitrovica has been named as
Anthony Welch. Welch, a retired British army Brigadier brings with him
more than 5 years of Balkans experience. Most recently he was the head of
the UK’s Department for International Development in Kosovo. He replaces
William Nash in November. Nash is returning to his job at the National
Democratic Institute in Washington.
OSCE Spokesman Roland Bless
I came to give you the overview of preparations for election day tomorrow. For those who have just recently arrived in Kosovo I remind you that we have a newcomers’ briefing at six p.m. every evening. That is at the elections press centre. The elections tomorrow are open to press KFOR accreditation is sufficient to let you in to polling stations, or if you so wish later on, to the counting centre. We will be operating 380 polling centres, which are broken down/subdivided into 1,464 voting stations. As Claire has already mentioned, at times there might be a little bit of a crowd around these polling stations. We have roughly 4,000 domestic observers who are accredited. They have just as much observers’ access as you have as media, and of course it’s not a press event that is going to happen, it’s election. So the voters actually have priority. If you encounter any problems please let us know
The total electorate stands at 901,000 voters. For the results you can expect trends based on about 90 per cent of the votes counted two days after the election day. Preliminary results without seat allocation should come five to seven days later, and the final results including seat allocation ten to twelve days later.
EU Spokesman Christian Lindmeier
I have five issues for you today. First of all one correction on the CFA-stickers. There was a question last Friday if the CFA would use stickers on enterprises that had not paid their taxes. Yes, these stickers have been used for a long while. Nevertheless, the enterprises are very good at paying taxes in Kosovo. So far it makes about 40 per cent of the Kosovo Consolidated Budget which is tax revenues.
Then I have a correction on some quite confusing articles in the newspapers on water: Something like ‘water bills should not be paid for half a year’. I have a statement from the Public Utilities Department (PUD): “The PUD has no knowledge of any UNMIK announcement saying that water bills should not be paid for one year. It is, and has always been, PUD’s position that utility bills should be promptly paid.”
Another thing which was mentioned last Wednesday was a question why Kosovo B1 was failing again. It was not because of any damages or leakage. The reason was simply that at the moment, there’s quite a lot of bad coal in the mines. This coal produces a lot of ashes, and after a certain amount of ashes the boiler just fails and trips, and that is why the station went down. You can not just re-fire it within a minute. The whole station has to be brought down and then brought up again, and that’s why we’ve faced these power cuts during the last days. But that should over since two days now.
Then I have an update on housing. Since the end of August, the Department for Reconstruction has recorded an increase in 8,000 in the number of houses being reconstructed with donor funding. Over 17,500 houses are now completed or under construction. With funding for a further 5,000 houses in the pipeline, the Department is confident that its objective of overseeing the donor-funded construction of at least 20,000 houses during 2000 will be achieved.
And finally, we are happy to announce that Kosovo Vera Vintage has a total export contract of 1 590,000 litres. This was announced on Wednesday, but in addition to only sending it to Japan, the Germans will profit as well. Exports go to Japan and Germany. That is Merlot 97.
Questions:
Q: What is Mr. Kouchner’s thinking about schedule for the general elections?
CT: For the moment we are focussing very much on the municipal elections. We are not really looking at general elections. Ambassador Holbrooke mentioned early elections. But as far as UNMIK is concerned, we are focussing on municipal elections and any further elections will be discussed at a later date. We haven’t worked out any specific date yet.
Q: Will the party flags be allowed to be flown around Kosovo, not on the polling stations?
CT: Yes, they will be, not outside the polling stations. But if people are flying the flags on their cars or whatever, that will be permitted.
Q: A few days ago, KPS members voted. So in this way does the OSCE and UNMIK want to control KPS and the KPC?
RB: It’s not about control. Police are on duty tomorrow, so they were given an advance chance to cast their ballots. The voting process was conducted under the same transparency, secrecy and observers conditions as everybody else’s. For the KPC, the second part of your question, they are not part of the special voting programme, they will vote tomorrow, when they cannot wear uniforms. The special needs voting programme was not only for KPS members, but also for OSCE staff members, for instance, who are on duty tomorrow, hospitalized persons, in prisons and so forth.
Q: What could be the major problems on election day. Also how many soldiers, policemen, KPS and international, you are going to use on the polling day and how?
CT: I don’t know how many KFOR will be there. You will have to check the exact figures with KFOR. They are obviously going to be around to ensure security. As far as police is concerned, there are going to be two police officers outside each polling stations. Obviously, there are various security plans being implemented to ensure that everyone can vote safely.
Q: I heard it may take as long as 50 seconds to vote for every voter. Do you have any plans to extend voting to Sunday, if everyone can’t get into the polling stations?
RB: The capacity as decided is 700 per station over a period of 12 hours. So that makes it around 60 per hour capacity. We have done time-in-motion studies, including difficult cases, which take more than a minute. We are pretty confident we can handle that if people show up early. If we have a blank period between 7 and 10 because everybody is sleeping in, then that will squeeze us. So if we can have your assistance in telling voters to go early, then we are pretty confident we can manage. In terms of extending opening hours, the policy is that everybody who is in line at 7 p.m. will get served and can get cast the ballot. Basically the stations will stay open as long as it needs to serve the queue which is present at 7 p.m.