france 24
01 December 2010 - 14H11
AFP - Kosovo on Wednesday started a 10-day campaign for the first general elections since it declared independence that are seen as a major test of the new country's political maturity.
Interim President Jakup Krasniqi appealed for "a decent campaign without hatred and intolerance" amid rising tension between the two main political parties, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of outgoing Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by newly elected chief Isa Mustafa.
"With these elections Kosovo is again taking a difficult democratic challenge," he said in a televised address late Tuesday.
An uneasy government coalition imploded late September and since then the rival PDK and LDK have blamed each other for the crisis that prompted the calling of December 12 snap elections.
The LDK's new leader and Pristina's popular mayor Mustafa, whom observers say will boost his party's chances in the vote, has already said he would not form a coalition again with Thaci's PDK.
"We will establish a government of learned men with clear faces and biographies so they can solve the problems that lie before us," Mustafa said, citing Thaci's main political inheritance as unemployment, poverty and lawlessness.
Thaci meanwhile suggested to voters that his rival could cede the volatile majority-Serb North Kosovo to Serbia.
The parties have also begun a bidding war of election promises with Thaci offering teachers a 50 percent salary increase only to be trumped by Mustafa who pledged to double teachers' pay.
"In the next ten days citizens of Kosovo will be tired of listening to all sorts of political phrases, accusations and counter-accusations, promises and demagogy," political analyst Milaim Shefkiu said.
Economic experts warned that such campaign promises were impossible to implement in a country that is among the poorest in Europe.
As the PDK-LDK battle unfolds, early polls show that a national movement led by former political prisoner Albin Kurti could become the third force as he turns his protest movement into a respectable parliamentary opposition.
Reminding the public that the vote will be the first general elections since Kosovo declared independence in 2008, Krasniqi said that they were also unique because they would be the first "without international involvement".
"For a moment the world will be looking at us to evaluate our democratic culture and our political maturity," he said.
The polls come as Kosovo is under mounting pressure from the international community to open EU-brokered talks with Serbia about unresolved issues that stem from Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.
Although international officials fear that Pristina will continue to delay the talks because of the elections, local observers believe that Thaci might agree to start the dialogue even before the new government is formed, in January or February at the latest.
"He wants to invest in his international image and can enter the talks to show that he will be the election winner and the decisive factor in Kosovo in the long run," political analyst Belul Beqaj told AFP.
"Thaci can meet them (the Serbs) even today as far as I am concerned," student Ilaz Duriqi, 21, told AFP.
"The only important thing is they accept us as an independent state and equal negotiating partner."
Interim President Jakup Krasniqi appealed for "a decent campaign without hatred and intolerance" amid rising tension between the two main political parties, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of outgoing Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by newly elected chief Isa Mustafa.
"With these elections Kosovo is again taking a difficult democratic challenge," he said in a televised address late Tuesday.
An uneasy government coalition imploded late September and since then the rival PDK and LDK have blamed each other for the crisis that prompted the calling of December 12 snap elections.
The LDK's new leader and Pristina's popular mayor Mustafa, whom observers say will boost his party's chances in the vote, has already said he would not form a coalition again with Thaci's PDK.
"We will establish a government of learned men with clear faces and biographies so they can solve the problems that lie before us," Mustafa said, citing Thaci's main political inheritance as unemployment, poverty and lawlessness.
Thaci meanwhile suggested to voters that his rival could cede the volatile majority-Serb North Kosovo to Serbia.
The parties have also begun a bidding war of election promises with Thaci offering teachers a 50 percent salary increase only to be trumped by Mustafa who pledged to double teachers' pay.
"In the next ten days citizens of Kosovo will be tired of listening to all sorts of political phrases, accusations and counter-accusations, promises and demagogy," political analyst Milaim Shefkiu said.
Economic experts warned that such campaign promises were impossible to implement in a country that is among the poorest in Europe.
As the PDK-LDK battle unfolds, early polls show that a national movement led by former political prisoner Albin Kurti could become the third force as he turns his protest movement into a respectable parliamentary opposition.
Reminding the public that the vote will be the first general elections since Kosovo declared independence in 2008, Krasniqi said that they were also unique because they would be the first "without international involvement".
"For a moment the world will be looking at us to evaluate our democratic culture and our political maturity," he said.
The polls come as Kosovo is under mounting pressure from the international community to open EU-brokered talks with Serbia about unresolved issues that stem from Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.
Although international officials fear that Pristina will continue to delay the talks because of the elections, local observers believe that Thaci might agree to start the dialogue even before the new government is formed, in January or February at the latest.
"He wants to invest in his international image and can enter the talks to show that he will be the election winner and the decisive factor in Kosovo in the long run," political analyst Belul Beqaj told AFP.
"Thaci can meet them (the Serbs) even today as far as I am concerned," student Ilaz Duriqi, 21, told AFP.
"The only important thing is they accept us as an independent state and equal negotiating partner."
*Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci addresses deputies during a parliament session in Pristina on November 2, 2010. Kosovo on Wednesday started a 10-day campaign for the first general elections since it declared independence that are seen as a major test of the new country's political maturity.
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