Belgrade DMH 181113

LOCAL PRESS

Selakovic: Counting of votes raises doubts (RTS)

Serbian Minister of Justice Nikola Selakovic has told the morning broadcast of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that the elections in northern Kosovska Mitrovica raise doubts due to the fact that around five thousand votes had been taken to Kosovo Polje in order to be counted. “I hope we will hear the explanation as to why this was done,” he said. Selakovic points out that he is satisfied with the process of voting at three polling centers and that the repeated elections passed much better than the previous on 3 November. Asked to comment the acquittal of three Albanians from the “Gnjilan group” who were charged with monstrous crimes against Serbs, Selakovic said that the question of responsibility for pronouncing such verdict should be raised. “It is somehow strange that you come to zero years of prison from 116 years,” he said, pointing out that he would not be surprised if the Albanians would request compensation for the unfounded prison detention. “I see the entire public is shocked with this verdict,” said Selakovic, explaining that he as the minister had not been acquainted with this subject nor could he have influenced the course of these proceedings, or any other.

Pantic: I can’t accept results even though I am the winner (Tanjug)

The candidate of the Serbian (Srpska) Civic Initiative for the mayor of the Kosovska Mitrovica Krstimir Pantic has stated that he can’t accept the results based on the counting of votes of the repeated elections at three polling centers in this town and requested a more detailed investigation into what was happening with the election material. He told Tanjug that there was a redrawing of the citizens’ will and that the results that were published were not in line with what the citizens wanted yesterday by going to the polls. “Regardless of the fact that the Serbian list and I won at these elections I can’t accept the election results. It is obvious that in the period between 7.30 p.m. and midnight, when the counting of votes started, there were manipulations with the election material,” said Pantic. He explained that the members of the election committee of the Serbian list had not been in contact with nor had been able to be close to the ballot boxes for four hours and added that there was probably filling of boxes during that period whereby the redrawing of citizens’ will occurred. He said that the Serbian list noticed irregularities even in the protocol on voting, i.e. that the number of people who voted didn’t match the number of valid ballots. He said that the OSCE directly took part in the redrawing of citizen’s will and the Central Election Commission (CIK) was not to be blamed. In that regard, he pointed out that Oliver Ivanovic, the candidate of the SDP list had a meeting on Saturday with the OSCE representatives, only several hours before the voting and that it would be good for him to explain to citizens what he was doing at the OSCE headquarters and what he had discussed there. Pantic said that the SDP election headquarters started to celebrate immediately after the polling stations closed down.

Drecun: Voice of the Serbs has historical importance (Dnevnik)

The Chair of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun has stated that the elections in northern Kosovska Mitrovica have historical importance, as they are exceptionally significant for the Serbs in the province and the state of Serbia as a whole. This is, according to him, a turning point in shaping and implementing the future state policy on Kosovo and Metohija, as well as survival and prosperity of the Serbs in Kosovo. The Serbs in northern Mitrovica will decide not only on the fate of their own family, but on the Serb people in the province as a whole, that is, on the further fight of the Serbian state to prevent the final secession of Kosovo, as well as on its prosperity and the position within the international community,” Drecun the Novi Sad Dnevnik.

Ruzic: Union of Serb Municipalities following second round (TVB92)

Serbian Minister without Portfolio in charge of EU Integration Branko Ruzic told a TVB92 broadcast that the second round of the local elections in Kosovo and Metohija will not be marked by incidents and that the polls would result in the constitution of the Union of Serb Municipalities. “We support the Serbian list, but as a citizen, I believe that the most important matter now is for the process to end in a democratic way and for the citizens to elect individuals in the second round of polls in whom they recognized the potential and strength,” Ruzic said. He noted that the implementation of the Brussels agreement between Belgrade and Pristina and the constitution of the Union would give an impulse to the society in Kosovo and help Serbs decide on the way they will live within the society. The completion of the electoral cycle and the formation of the government, as well as the consequent Union will denounce the hopes of all those who believe the situation can be turned backwards and lawlessness can reign, Ruzic said.
He expressed the belief that the Serb turnout in the parliamentary elections in Kosovo and Metohija would be higher because the elections will refute the rumors that participation in the democratic process helps the interests of Hashim Thaqi and the Pristina government.

Mihajlovic: Serbs themselves to decide their fate (RTS)

The Head of the Office for Media Relations Milivoje Mihajlovic has assessed for the morning broadcast of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that it is good that the Serbs went to the polls for the repeated elections in Kosovska Mitrovica since they will be recognized internationally and decide themselves their fate once they receive municipal authority. “The residents of Kosovska Mitrovica will receive their municipal authority based on which they will form with other Serb municipalities the Union of Serb Municipalities and this is a process that will introduce the Serbs into legal authorities,” said Mihajlovic. He opines this is a good beginning of a long process of reconciliation of Serbs and Albanians and the resolution of basic problems. He announced that the Serbian Government would support these Serbs and offer them help in economic, political and other way. Commenting the possibility of Pristina manipulating the elections material, Mihajlovic says Pristina can’t go so far and that he is not sure there is much space here, adding it is necessary to trust the OSCE representatives. Asked about the statement by the EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule on Serbia’s challenges towards the EU, Mihajlovic says the European agenda of this region is one of the most important factors for lasting stabilization of the situation. There are two unresolved issues in the Balkans, the Albanian and Serbian national issue, and the EU membership of the entire region resolves this issue to an extent, so the EU is not only a political solution, but an economic one as well, for survival of states, new and old in this region, said Mihajlovic. “I don’t think Serbia will ever block anyone on the EU road. By capacity, geostrategic position, resources, Serbia represents the motor of the Balkans. Thus, it could not even happen for Serbia to prevent someone from entering the EU,” said Mihajlovic.

Stefanovic: Shadow on counting of votes remains (Beta)

The caucus whip of the Democratic Party (DS) Borislav Stefanovic has stated that it is positive that the repeated elections in Kosovska Mitrovica passed peacefully and without incidents and that the turnout was higher, but he also said that a shade was cast on the counting of votes that was not explained by the OSCE. Addressing journalists in the parliament, Stefanovic said that it is positive Kosovska Mitrovica citizens demonstrated that they are able to elect their representatives in a peaceful and fair atmosphere. Noting that the candidate of the list supported by the DS did not make it through to the second round of the polls, Stefanovic said that the party has not discussed potential support to one of the candidates - Pantic or Ivanovic - in the second round, but also doubts they would seek DS support. “Both of them are very familiar to Kosovska Mitrovica residents, I don’t see any essential difference between them and their programs,” said Stefanovic.

CIK: Pantic and Ivanovic head towards second round (Novosti)

The Central Electoral Commission (CIK) has published the preliminary results of yesterday’s repeated local elections in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, according to which the candidate of the Serbian (Srpska) Civic Initiative Krstimir Pantic has received 37.06 percent of the votes, while the candidate of the SDP Initiative Oliver Ivanovic has received 28.53 percent. It means that they will meet again in the second round of the elections on 1 December. The total number of polling booths was 33. The second round of the elections will be held in all those municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija where the candidates did not achieve a clear victory in the first round that was held on 3 November, reads the statement.

Ashton: Large step towards EU (Tanjug)

EU High Representative Catherine Ashton has expressed pleasure over yesterday’s successfully held repeated elections in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, and stated that a large step has been done on Serbia’s course towards the EU. We are satisfied with the fact that the repeated elections in northern Mitrovica passed peacefully, Ashton said on the eve of today’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Serbian parliament holds constitutive session of Committee for SAA with EU (Radio Serbia, by Mladen Bijelic)

The Serbian parliament hosted a constitutive session of the Parliamentary Committee for Stabilization and Association with the EU, to be co-presided by Eduard Kukan and Ivan Andric.

Kukan assessed that the Committee represented a new format of cooperation, which reflects Serbia’s progress towards the EU, and Andric explained that the Committee would be formed of Serbian MPs and members of the European Parliament. Serbian parliament Speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic said at the session that Serbia expected the EU to decide on 20 December to formally start EU accession talks with Serbia and hold the first inter-governmental conference. He stressed the importance of the constitution of this Committee on the EU integrations course, emphasizing that Serbia is not implementing reforms just because of the EU, but is doing that, above all, to enable a better life for its citizens. Serbia expects a negotiating framework from the EU and also the date of the first inter-governmental conference. Welcoming MPs at the constitutive session of the parliamentary Committee for Stabilization and Association with the EU, Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he expected an affirmative report of the European Parliament on Serbia’s progress on 6 December, the first inter-governmental conference by the end of the year and Serbia to be the next country to be admitted to the EU. He emphasized that Serbia rightly expected EU support for everything it has achieved so far. There are many more obligations and tasks ahead of Serbia, he said, but emphasized that Serbia would fulfill them all. The reforms we are implementing are primarily aimed at improving the lives of our citizens, he stressed. Our political goal is the creation of a normal and decent Serbia, which is to have an equitable share in the European affairs as any other of its 28 member-states, said Vucic.

Committee co-chair Ivan Andric assessed that, with the formation of the Committee, Serbia’s cooperation with the EU has been raised to a higher level. The most important thing is that Serbia should emerge from this process as a stronger, safer and more stable country, which is not to represent a burden to anyone at the end of the process, but will be a favorite EU partner and part of the EU, emphasized Andric.

The European Parliament strongly supports Serbia’s efforts aimed at realizing progress in the EU integrations process, said a member of the European Parliament, Eduard Kukan. He emphasized that the EP delegation had visited Serbia at an important moment – after the European Commission’s report on Serbia’s progress and before a European Council meeting to decide on the start of Serbia’s EU accession talks.

REGIONAL PRESS

Sorensen: Team from Brussels coming (Srna)

“Next week, a team from Brussels that is working on the issue of implementation of the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the Sejdic-Finci case will arrive in B&H,” said Peter Sorensen, the EU Special Representative in B&H. “When, how, and where – I don’t know that information, but I know that a visit to us is approaching,” Sorensen said, according to Srna. “There is nothing new, if you have nothing to tell me,” Sorensen said in Sarajevo, in response to a reporter’s question of what is happening in connection with resolving the issue of implementing the decision from Strasbourg. Last Friday in Brussels, a meeting was held with representatives of the B&H Feedration parties with experts from the European Commission, at which they discussed implementing the ruling in the European Court of Human Rights. No concrete agreement was reached at this or at previous meetings, due to which it was necessary to continue seeking solution to this issue.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

North Kosovo poll re-runs pass safely (Al Jazeera, by Aljosa Milenkovic, 18 November 2013)

Voter turn-out was seven times higher in the repeated elections, held under tight international and domestic security.

When polls closed at the repeated local elections in north of Kosovska Mitrovica, many of the ballot boxes were almost entirely filled, a testament to the success of the re-run elections. Only a little more than 20 percent of the people voted, but it still was almost seven times higher turnout than just two weeks ago.

The success wasn't easily achieved. Huge numbers of security forces – both international and domestic – maintained a very visible presence as people cast their ballots in Kosovska Mitrovica north. According to Kosovo police spokesman Besim Hoti, the security forces did everything they could in order to prevent repeating of violence from November 3.

It was two weeks ago when voting was stopped after masked men entered a polling station, destroyed ballot boxes, smashed windows and injured election commission members.

Though the identity of the intruders is still unknown, fingers were quickly pointed at anti-election campaigners, dubbed "Serb extremists" by Belgrade.

Leader of boycott campaign and legislator in Serbian parliament, Marko Jaksic, talking to Al Jazeera was adamant that it wasn't them who caused November 3 troubles.

"Why would we destroy ballot boxes when at the time only about two percents of people voted. We were getting ready to start celebrating victory of boycott and not to demolish ballot boxes. All the facts are suggesting that it was done by Belgrade."

Smart choices

Because of fears that they could be again accused for being troublemakers or because of huge presence of security forces at all polling stations, unlike on November 3, boycott campaigners didn't show up in front of voting stations to heckle those who decided to vote.

The Belgrade government strongly supported pro-election campaign, and even Ivica Dacic, Serbian prime minister, addressed north Kosovska Mitrovica citizens at the rally on Friday. He made clear to everybody that only way for Serbs from the north is voting in the local elections.

"Serbia can't help you today by guns and tanks, not because Serbia don't want to, but because they are not allowing us, and because we can't win in this battle. Today we can win only by strong political connections and choosing smart choices. That's why you need to grab power here."

And good turnout of the voters in repeated Mitrovica elections is a win-win situation for Belgrade, Pristina and Brussels, because both Kosovo and Serbia are now one step closer to the EU.

Brussels is happy too. As a result of this success, ending of 14 years standoff in this part of Europe is closer than ever.

Although these elections will not remove deep divisions among Serbs in the north, the question now is whether the governments involved in resolving tensions in this part of Kosovo will live up to their promises and fulfil people's expectations to bring better standard of living to this region.

Coercion complaints underscore challenge to EU's Kosovo accord (Reuters, by Matt Robinson and Branislav Krstic, 18 November 2013)

Low turnout and complaints of coercion in a re-run election in northern Kosovo on Sunday underscored the challenge facing the European Union in implementing an accord designed to end the country's ethnic partition.

Under tight security from NATO soldiers and EU police, voting passed off peacefully in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica, two weeks after masked men hurling teargas halted the original poll.

Barely a fifth of eligible voters took part, however, even as the Serbian government mobilised public sector workers and their families to vote in organised groups under the EU-brokered accord to integrate them with the rest of majority-Albanian Kosovo.

The municipal ballot was the first to be held in Kosovo's mainly Serb north, where some 40,000-50,000 Serbs reject Kosovo as a sovereign state.

The former Serbian province declared independence in 2008, almost a decade after NATO bombed to halt a Serbian counter-insurgency war and Kosovo became a ward of the United Nations.

The north was left in an often lawless limbo, part of Kosovo but de facto under the control of Serbia in defiance of Kosovo's NATO and EU overseers.

In an historic about-face, Serbia agreed in April to recognise Kosovo's legal authority over the north in exchange for talks on joining the EU, expected to begin in January.

But there was little sign of enthusiasm among local Serbs to elect a mayor and councillors who will operate under Kosovo law.

Instead, there was evidence of the Serbian state mobilising voters to legitimise the accord, elect a Belgrade-backed candidate for mayor and maintain influence over the area. The candidate, Krstimir Pantic, was on course to win. Just over 22 percent had voted by the time polls closed.

"I was called on Friday night and told that, as someone on welfare, they'd be giving out sugar, oil and a bit of money sent by the state so that I would vote for the government candidate," said Vesna Cosic, a pregnant unemployed Serb woman in Mitrovica.

"Then they started to threaten. 'If you don't come on Sunday, we'll take you off welfare'," Cosic told Reuters.

Several residents, clutching bags of sugar and oil, said they had received state handouts on the promise they would vote.

COLLECTIVE VOTING

Other Serbs, working in Serbian state institutions, spoke of pressure from managers to turn out with family members to vote.

Workers at the local hospital, who receive their salaries from Serbia, arrived to vote en masse, filing past an envoy of Europe's chief rights and democracy watchdog, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as he addressed reporters.

"There is no problem, everything is going smoothly," Ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger said when asked about signs of pressure on voters.

Pantic, from the Serbian Progressive Party in Serbia's coalition government, dismissed accusations of state coercion.

"There was no order from the local council for organised voting, but only a recommendation to turn out in an organised manner to prevent any possible attempt by those in favour of a boycott to again intimidate voters," he told Reuters.

A large majority of voters, however, stayed at home.

"I don't want, with my signature, to give up the right to vote again in elections organised by Serbia," said a Mitrovica shopkeeper who gave his name as Sasa.

"Given that some people have already voted, I'm afraid Serbia will never again be able to organise any elections in Kosovo," he said.

Almost 15 years since NATO wrested control of Kosovo from late Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic, the West is still trying to rein in the north, where instability has frustrated NATO's hopes of cutting back its 6,000-strong peacekeeping force.

Serbia hopes that by resolving issues in the north, it can catch up with the likes of fellow former Yugoslav republic Croatia in joining the EU and lure investors to its struggling economy.

But the Mitrovica election has laid bare the depth of resistance among ethnic Serbs to integration with Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority, and the challenge facing the EU in implementing its accord.

Oliver Ivanovic, a Mitrovica mayoral candidate who appeared to be fighting a losing battle against Pantic, alleged foul play.

"This kind of pressure wasn't even seen even under Milosevic," he told Reuters, and flagged problems ahead for the accord between Belgrade and Pristina.

"Pristina can't count on raising the Kosovo flag in the north," he said. "That won't happen."

EU Urges Bosnia To Boost High-Level Corruption Action (SETimes, by Mladen Dragojlovic, 16 November 2013)

An investigation into allegations of misuse of funds and money laundering at the Sarajevo Tobacco Factory is one of the most high-profile corruption cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

The Federation of BiH (FBiH) financial police department submitted three reports to the BiH prosecutor’s office alleging that the company’s executives took part in financial abuse and damages to shareholder and state capital. The damages are estimated to be about 40 million euros, according to the prosecutor.

In a July interview with Oslobodjenje newspaper, FBiH Prime Minister Nermin Niksic said factory director Edin Mulahasanovic allowed more than 30 million euros in discounts over the approved limit to various buyers. He said that Mulahasanovic said he was trying to “save the factory,” which is owned by shareholders with 60 percent and the FBiH with 40 percent.

If the investigation, which was launched late last month, uncovers corruption, the prosecutor will file indictments against Sarajevo Tobacco Factory management, including Mulahasanovic.

The prosecutor’s office said the amount of documents it must review in order to file charges will take months.

Alem Hamzic, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, told the media that it is a complex case. “The prosecutor will analyse this documentation and he will give his opinion in this case,” Hamzic said.

EU special representative office spokesman Andy McGuffie said that there is an urgent need to move beyond rhetoric and tackle corruption and organised crime in earnest.

“There is an insufficient track record of investigation and prosecution in high-profile cases. BiH launched the 2009-2014 anti-corruption strategy and decided to implement an action plan against corruption. So far, we could see only limited steps towards the implementation of the strategy and the action plan,” McGuffie told SETimes.

Adis Arapovic, an analyst at the Centre of Civil Initiatives in BiH, called the tobacco company investigation “symbolic” considering widespread reports of corruption and nepotism in the country.

“It is just symbolic step. Corruption and unemployment are the biggest problems of citizens in BiH, but for political elite circles this disorganised system is good and they are not working anything to solve these problems,” Arapovic told SETimes.

He said that political leadership in many enterprises makes the problem even bigger.

McGuffie said greater efforts and political will are needed to improve the anti-corruption strategy.

When political actors ensure conditions that allow law enforcement agencies and other institutions to implement the law without obstruction, corruption would decrease and the integration process would speed up, McGuffie said.

Milorad Novkovic, president of High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH, said members of judicial institutions, who are working on cases of corruption and money laundering, are well trained for the job.

Prosecutors and other members in these institutions are educated for all kinds of investigations including those at high political and economic levels, Novkovic said.

The recent Progress Report from the European Commission said corruption remains widespread throughout the public and private sector in BiH, and that it continues to negatively impact all spheres of life, economic development, and the rule of law.

“It is clear that if we do not take specific actions in prosecuting the worst forms of corruption, there is great danger that it could come to a complete collapse of the legal system and institutional framework,” Transparency International BiH said.

Bosnian Serb Politicians ‘Never Advocated Expelling Bosniaks’ (BIRN, 18 November 2013)

A former Serbian Democratic Party official told the Hague trial of Radovan Karadzic that the Bosnian Serb parliament did not demand that Bosniaks or Croats should be driven out.

Justice Report

“The top political leaders of Republika Srpska didn’t advocate the expulsion of non-Serbs,”  Vojislav Kupresanin, a former member of the Karadzic’s Serbian Democratic Party leadership, told the Bosnian Serb political leader’s war crimes trial last week.

However, Kupresanin accepted the possibility that people were forced out of municipalities which, he suggested, were not under the control of the central authorities.

Speaking about the crisis committees which were formed in 1991 and 1992 in predominantly Serbian municipalities and took over control of the authorities, Kupresanin said that they were set up due to tensions just before the outbreak of the war, not to deport the non-Serb population.

He insisted that neither the committees nor municipal leaders received instructions from Karadzic, because they “didn’t respect him” or the Serbian Democratic Party.

The witness said that relations between Karadzic and Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic, who is also on trial in The Hague, were “tense”, adding that Mladic “put himself above” political leaders.

Karadzic is charged with the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in seven municipalities, as well as genocide in Srebrenica, terrorising residents of Sarajevo and taking UN peackeepers hostage.

This week, the former speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament Momcilo Krajisik finished his testimony in defence of Karadzic, denying allegations that both of them were part of a joint criminal enterprise.

“Did I intend to destroy Muslims and Croats?” Karadzic asked Krajisik in court.

“I can say with certainty and support it with evidence that Karadzic was far from such thoughts and intentions. Such a plan did not exist,” Krajisnik responded.

Karadzic’s trial continues this week.

Macedonia Media Names Potential Presidential Candidates (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 18 November 2013)

Four months before the next presidential elections in Macedonia, speculation is growing over likely candidates and the possibility of incumbent Gjorge Ivanov running for another term.

Both of Macedonia's main political blocs are keeping silent about who will stand in the 2014 presidential election, but media have been busy drawing up lists of the most likely contenders.

Gjorge Ivanov, the current president, who won his first term in 2009 with support from the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, came out top in a recent opinion poll, Utrinski Vesnik newspaper says.

Citing a survey commissioned by the opposition Social Democrats, the paper said Ivanov was rated more positively than any other potential candidate from the ruling party.

Ivanov has not suggested that he will run next March. Nor has his possible rival, Srgjan Kerim, a seasoned diplomat and a former president of the UN General Assembly.

According to the survey, whose existence the opposition declined to confirm, Stevo Pendarovski, a former advisor to Macedonian presidents Boris Trajkovski and Branko Crvenkovski, tops the list of potential opposition candidates.

Pendarovski is leading Denko Maleski, another experienced diplomat seen as close to the opposition, who was also Macedonia's first foreign minister after independence in the 1990s.

According to the daily, the former Central Bank governor Petar Goshev, as well as Zoran Stavreski, the vice-prime minister and finance minister, both figured in the survey but got lower rating.

However a recent statement by the junior party in the ruling coalition, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, could have dented Ivanov’s chances.

Earlier this month, the DUI’s head, Ali Ahmeti, said his party would probably not support the incumbent president if he ran again.

“We have not seen anything bad from him but there was nothing positive, either,” Ahmeti remarked.

The DUI chief said his party would prefer a consensus candidate who would be acceptable to both Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, who make up a quarter of the population.

In the presidential run-off  in 2009, Ivanov won a convincing victory over his opposition rival, Ljubomir Frckoski, largely because of support from the DUI.