euro|topics - The opposition wins in Kosovo's elections

Main focus of Monday, November 19, 2007

The opposition wins in Kosovo's elections

The Democratic Party (PDK) led by the former resistance fighter Hashim Thaçi has won Kosovo's parliamentary elections with an estimated 34 percent of the vote. The voter turnout in the Serb province, with its predominantly Albanian population, was just 45 percent. The Serb minority boycotted the elections. What challenges does the new government face?

Der Standard - Austria

"The low voter turnout is proof of the disappointment and lack of hope of many who had expected a better life in a sovereign Kosovo following the end of the Serb invasion more than eight years ago," writes Andrej Ivanji. "Hashim Thaçi now has the task of changing this. This is the man who organised the armed uprising against the Serb state power in the forests and achieved in one year what the pacifist Ibrahim Rugova was unable to achieve in a decade: the de facto separation of Kosovo from Serbia. ... No government will be able to overcome Kosovo's economic depression in the foreseeable future. All that Thaçi can do is provide his people with their longed-for independence. He must and will do this to prevent the Kosovars from turning against him." (19/11/2007)

Frankfurter Rundschau - Germany

Norbert Mappes-Niedik comments: "It's not extremism that has come to the fore in Kosovo, but a new generation - one tired of the ex-communist elite's stiff and empty declarations. But it would be premature to interpret the results as the triumph of a stable democracy, as Western diplomats are doing. Kosovo is far from being a democracy. The power does not emanate from the people, but from international diplomats. ... The stifling control of the bureaucrats leaves no room for responsibility, ideas, deep-rooted change, productive crises, independent initiatives in foreign policy or true reconciliation. The 'international community', which in the form of these officials rules over many countries, is not as altruistic as it pretends to be. This circle has huge vested interests, even if it's only the extension of its own contracts and projects." (19/11/2007)

Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

Martin Ehl asks whether the times of bloodshed will now return to the Balkans: "One thing's for sure: the Kosovars will pronounce independence as soon as possible. What will happen next is less certain. .... Over the next year Brussels will take over the administration of the province from the UN regardless of whether Kosovo is an independent state or not. But above all Europeans fear that Kosovo could turn into an avalanche of problems and even trigger a new conflict that would spread across the entire Balkan region. ... There is, however, no threat of a new war. All those involved are simply too exhausted for that. So what are the potential scenarios? Guerrilla attacks, spontaneous violent protests staged by frustrated jobless Kosovo-Albanians, the separation of the Republic of Serbia from Bosnia, a new division of Sarajevo? The EU has good reason to be on edge, but after the experiences of the past twenty years it can't deny the Kosovars the right to their own state." (19/11/2007)

Diário de Notícias - Portugal

The daily is concerned about the precedent that would be set by the independence of Kosovo for other regions in Europe with independentist whims. "The results of the elections in Kosovo come as no surprise. ... But more than by this result, the future of Kosovo will be determined by the decision on its status ... . The intervention of the international community has led to the departure of numerous Serbes, turning them into even more of a minority and rendering independence all the more inevitable. Given the fact that Kosovo's belonging to Serbia has not been contested by the international community, independence will have a violation of the law as a starting point. Specifics will however take precedence over the law. In a Europe that is dividing itself - from Belgium to Great Britain (Scotland), via problems with the Galicians, Basques, and Catalans in Spain -, an independent Kosovo would be a dangerous precedent." (19/11/2007)

» To the complete press review of Monday, November 19, 2007

Bookmark this page at