6 Jan. 2003
LIPJAN
(Hysni Recica)
The
second municipal elections held on the 26th of October were
considered an important stage in the creation of functional and democratic
institutions in Kosovo.
The
elections passed of quietly and peacefully, though the turnout was far lower
than in the first elections; hardly reaching the percentage required for them
to be valid.
For
the first time, Serbs took part in the municipal elections, though again, not
in satisfactory numbers, and not all across Kosovo.
We visited
Lipjan, some 15 km south of Pristina to see what changes these elections have
brought and what people and officials there expect from them.
75.000 people
live in the Lipjan Municipality; around 9000 of them are Serb.
Cicilia
Piazza, has been working as a Municipal Administrator in Lipjan for almost two years now, she says things
have been proceeding well so far.
Cicilia
Piazza: of course it is too
early to have a very accurate assessment in the sense that for the time being
the Municipal Assembly has dealt with election appointments, there is no
substantial object that has been brought to the attention of the Municipal
Assembly
No
political party obtained a majority of votes in the last municipal elections;
PDK won 14 seats, LDK 13, Serb parties 2 seats, AAK 1 and PDAK 1. This led to the need to form coalitions
which took time. Xhevat Olluri, the president of the Municipal Assembly is
happy with the security situation in Lipjan.
Xhevat
Olluri: There have not been
major incidents, and minority citizens can move a bit more freely. It is good
that they took part in the elections and that they are represented in the
Municipal Assembly.
It
is true that it is the first time Serbs took part, since they didn’t in the
first municipal elections. This is a positive thing since concerns can now be
addressed and solved in an institutional way, including Serb minority concerns.
Until now there was a division, and many issues were solved separately. It was almost
an enclave in Lipjan Municipality. They had some offices but there was no
monitoring from the municipality, the same with education and health
institutions, they were just receiving salaries, there was no control over
their curriculum or the number of staff.
Nenad
Arsic, a Serbian youth from Lipjan is not at all happy with the security
situation. He doesn’t expect much from the newly Serb elected representatives.
Nenad
Arsic: It is shit, to tell you
the truth. First, it is not safe at all. More effort needs to be made It will
be even worse now, I do not know, but I feel it will be worse. We have our
people there (in the assembly) they are there for themselves, not for us, for
sure. Frankly speaking, I am not optimistic because there have been no improvements
over the last two years. It is the same as before though it is a bit quieter
now, but still there is still fear to move.
Momir
Cankovic, a member of the Municipal Assembly in Lipjan, would like to convince
people like Nenad that he and his colleagues mean business.
Momir
Cankovic: My friend and myself from the Serb
community, we’ll try to do our best, according to regulation 2000/45 for the
sake of the Serb community. And time will show if we succeed in that or not. Tr
72 - Our interests are not our own interests but interests of Serb
community.
Municipal
administrator Piazza says future developments will very much depend on the
attitude of Albanians and Serbs living in Lipjan.
Cicilia
Piazza: The participation of Serbs in the election, although
we all know that all over Kosovo the participation was not big, but still there
is a participation which has led to having two elected members, that means that
people have to respect the results. This participation shows that there is a
change of trend, and we can expect a bigger participation in all the different
institutions now. We cannot speak about normal situation in the sense that
people do not move as freely as it would be in a normal situation.
Dialogue
and cooperation between the communities is the only way to reach that stage
sooner, adds President of the Assembly Mr. Olluri.
Xhevat
Olluri: We have had talks
with the Serbian community, and I promised them that their rights will be
respected by the institutions, this issue will be monitored, on the other hand
there should be a reduction of enclaves and parallel institutions so that they
gradually fall under the control of Municipality.
Joint trainings were
organized during the summer by the OSCE says Momir Cankovic. That, he said was
a valuable opportunity for dialogue.
Momir Cankovic:
There aren’t any problems for now. They are good and we are trying to learn the
regulations and other laws better so to be able to prevent Albanian community
to eventually manipulate us. But, honestly, we haven’t had any unpleasant
events till now and we hope there won’t be any.
And that brings us to the end of this program. Thank
you for listening.