THE FACTS SEEM TO BE DIFFERENT
BalkanInsight.com 06 May 2008
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ALBANIAN PARTIES VUE FOR VICTORY IN PRESEVO VALLEY
While Albanians will romp home in Presevo and Serbs will win Medvedja, the real interest on May 11 will be the outcome in divided Bujanovac.
By Skender Saqipi in Bujanovac
Ethnic Albanian political parties in the Presevo Valley of southern Serbia are hoping local elections in Serbia on 11 May will lead to better local governance, as well as an end to the ethnic tensions that have blighted the region for almost a decade.
The likely results of the elections in the municipalities of Presevo and Medvedja already appear clear.
In overwhelmingly Albanian Presevo, local government will be managed by the Albanians whereas in Medvedja, where Albanians make up less than 30 per cent of the population, Serbs will run the town hall.
Since September 2004 elections, Presevo has been run by the Albanian Democratic Party whose leader, Ragmi Mustafa, serves as mayor.
Other key parties in the town council are the Albanian National Movement, ANM, of Orhan Rexhepi a former rebel leader from the 2000-2001 insurgency, and the Democratic Union of the Valley.
Zijush Ahmeti, of the ANM, said his party will run in the elections "as the only party not in a pre-election coalition".
Ahmeti said his party stands for greater stability in a region still recovering from a brief, ethnic-based insurgency eight years ago.
Following the turmoil in neighbouring Kosovo, Albanians in southern Serbia rose in armed revolt, demanding more rights for their marginalised community and the unification of the Presevo Valley with Kosovo, by then a UN-administered and NATO-protected province.
The insurgency ended with a NATO-brokered peace deal. This ruled out the Presevo Valley's incorporation into Kosovo. But local Albanians were offered better integration into Serbian society, including genuinely free local elections that paved the way for Albanian political parties to take power in town halls.
Skender Destani, another ethnic Albanian politician and the head of the Democratic Union of the Valley, said his party will also be running independently.
"These elections are going to surprise the electorate as huge changes are going to take place in the local government structures in Presevo," he predicted.
However, the attention of the Albanian electorate in the Presevo Valley is not focused on Presevo but the 40,000-strong district of Bujanovac, which has much more industrial potential as well as a larger population.
Since the last elections in 2006, ethnic Albanians have had a narrow majority on the 41-member council in Bujanovac, which has comprised 22 Albanian, 17 Serb and 2 Roma members.
A coalition of two ethnic Albanian parties, the Party for Democratic Action with 13 councillors and the Movement for Democratic Progress with 9 councillors, has run the town hall.
Shaip Kamberi, head of the region’s Party for Democratic Action, said he believed his party would come out as the strongest force after the May 11 vote and would take over the key positions in the local administration.
He also said an ethnic Albanian local coalition would be a "precondition for positive developments" in the area "naturally without discriminating against the others."
Jonuz Musliu, a former rebel commander and the head of the Movement for Democratic Progress, agreed on the need for Albanian unity in the tense and ethically divided municipality. He says Bujanovac needs "greater unity among the Albanian political parties, which we hope will move forward and create a more reformed, closer and efficient local government."
Skender Saqipi is a journalist of Perspektiva weekly in Albanian from Bujanovac. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.
This article was published with the support of the British embassy in Belgrade and National Endowment for Democracy - NED, as part of BIRN's Minority Media Training and Reporting Project.
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BalkanInsight.com 23 June 2008
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SOUTH SERBIA ALBANIANS SEEK LOKAL SERB ALLIES
Shaip Kamberi, contender for the post of mayor of Bujanovac tells Nikola Lazic that his Democratic Action Party, which won most seats in the local elections in Bujanovac, wants to work with local Serbs.
By Nikola Lazic
Q: Do you agree with the OSCE suggestion that Bujanovac should have a multiethnic local government?
A: Albanian leaders are willing to include Serbian parties in local government, except for the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Radical Party. We would also like to include the Roma representative who won a seat in the municipal assembly.
Q: What Serb parties you would like to cooperate with?
A: With those pro-democratic forces that advocate Serbia’s faster integration into the European Union, above all the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic and a group of citizens led by former mayor, Stojanca Arsic.
Q: Have you talked to them?
A: Not yet, but our position is that the details must be specified before any sort of coalition agreement.
Q: How does the process of forming a national government influence the situation in the Presevo Valley?
A: A lot depends on who will govern in Belgrade, not only for the Presevo Valley, but for the whole of the Balkans. However, I believe no one will raise the dangerous issue of armed conflicts. But, if “the populists” led by [outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav] Kostunica form a government, tensions will continue to escalate, which would rule out foreign investments.
Q: Are you satisfied with the level of integration of ethnic Albanians?
A: Albanians still have a lot of objections concerning this process within the state institutions, such as judiciary, police, customs… On the other hand, the process of integration into local institutions has been much more successful.
Q: What will be your priorities as a mayor?
A: Among many problems here, the state of local economy is the gravest of all. I’ll try hard to improve Bujanovac’s poor economic situation
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B92 3 July 2008
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STALEMATE IN LOCAL VALLEY ASSEMBLIES
The municipalities of Presevo and Bujanovac, with majority-ethnic Albanians, face the introduction of temporary measures and a second round of elections.
The municipalities have until July 12 to form ruling authorities.
Riza Halimi’s Party for Democratic Action (PDD) won the most votes in both towns. Halimi told B92 that the problem in both municipalities was that potential coalition partners were asking for too much.
In Presevo, Halimi is trying to come to an agreement with ethnic Albanian parties, while in Bujanovac he is negotiating with Serbian parties.
The PDD leader admits that negotiations for constituting ruling majorities in Presevo and Bujanovac are not going smoothly.
He blames the parties he has been negotiating with, because their conditions are excessive, in spite of the fact that the PDD got most seats in the local assemblies—13.
Halimi said that a deal in Presevo could have been struck had the Democratic Union of Valley (DUD) not demanded the post of assembly speaker.
“The only problem is that Mr. Destani is still determined to become the speaker of the municipality of Preševo, which, if you ask me, is an unreasonable request,” the PDD leader lamented.
The Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), which came second in Preševo, is also trying to make a deal to form a majority.
DPA leader Ragmi Mustafa told B92 that anything would be better than having temporary measures enforced—even a coalition with Halimi, Mustafa’s chief rival.
“I believe that a deal will be made, and that the differences between the parties will be overcome. I believe that everything will be sorted out by the deadline which expires on July 12,” Mustafa said.
Besides Albanian parties, Serbian parties also won a significant number of seats in the local assemblies, but there is no sign of any agreement there either.
The PDD has tried to form a majority on both sides, but according to Halimi, all efforts have proved in vain thus far.
“The problem in Bujanovac is that there is no deal within the Albanian parties, nor for the moment any agreement with the PDD, which has the most seats in Bujanovac together with the Democratic Party (DS) and citizens’ groups representing the Serb population,” Halimi said.
DS representatives from Bujanovac do not see themselves as an obstacle to forming a new majority in that town.
Local DS leader Goran Taskovic told B92 his side of the story.
“I must emphasize that the negotiations did not come to a standstill because of the DS’ participation in the government, but rather because the Albanian parties could not reach an agreement. There is a possibility that those parties will reach a agreement, as they usually do, at the last minute. Equally, they might not, and a temporary authority will have to be introduced,” Tasković exlained.
Presevo Valley has three municipalities. Only in Medvedja has an assembly been constituted, with the ruling majority consisting of the DS, the PDD and a citizens' group.
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07-08-2008, 04:05 AM
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