[ALBSA-Info] Kosovo's Albanians Concerned/UN Says Kosovo Albanians Ignored Yugoslav Vote/Opposition Claiming Yugoslavia Vote

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1. Kosovo's Albanians Concerned
2. UN Says Kosovo Albanians Ignored Yugoslav Vote
3. Opposition Claiming Yugoslavia Vote
4. Kostunica Claims Victory in Crucial Yugoslav Poll


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#1.
Kosovo's Albanians Concerned

By ELENA BECATOROS

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Although Kosovo's ethnic Albanians will stay on 
the sidelines in Sunday's Yugoslav elections, many of them will be quietly 
rooting for Slobodan Milosevic - the man who drove most of them from their 
homes last year. 

Many Kosovo Albanians, who technically remain Yugoslav citizens, fear victory 
by opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica will encourage the West to make 
overtures to Belgrade and undercut their aspirations for independence from 
Yugoslavia's main republic Serbia. 

``I think it would be simpler if Milosevic wins,'' said Bajram Rexhepi, the 
ethnic Albanian community leader in Kosovska Mitrovica. ``But even if 
Kostunica wins, we will try for independence. We won't push for independence 
now because this is not the time. But we will in the future.'' 

Although Kosovo Albanians could vote as Yugoslav citizens in Sunday's 
balloting, few are expected to do so. Many of the province's 2 million ethnic 
Albanians had been boycotting elections and other Yugoslav institutions since 
Milosevic canceled Kosovo's autonomy in 1989. 

Milosevic has been indicted by the U.N. court in The Hague for atrocities 
committed by Yugoslav forces during the 18-month crackdown, which ended when 
NATO-led troops arrived here last year after the 78-day Western bombing of 
Yugoslavia. 

Despite the suffering visited on them during Milosevic's rule, many ethnic 
Albanians realize that as long as he remains in power, the West is unlikely 
to cut any deal with Belgrade which would restore Serb rule that effectively 
ended when international peacekeepers arrived. 

Neither the United States nor any other major power supports independence for 
Kosovo. But as long as Milosevic is president, however, the prospects for 
that goal are certainly no worse than under a Yugoslav leader more acceptable 
to the West. 

``It is better for Kosovo if Milosevic wins,'' said Mimosa, an ethnic 
Albanian journalist who refused to give her surname. ``Kostunica is an 
unknown. We don't know his strategy.'' 

Many ethnic Albanians interviewed in this dusty provincial capital fear the 
West, in its drive to get rid of Milosevic, has misjudged Kostunica, who 
himself is a strong Serb nationalist. 

They fear an opposition victory could lead to the gradual withdrawal of the 
international presence from Kosovo and a sudden influx of aid for Serbia at 
Kosovo's expense. 

``Europe thinks the opposition in Serbia is democratic. They don't know it 
could be worse than Milosevic,'' said Daut Demaku, 55. ``The opposition of 
Serbia is more criminal than Milosevic.'' 

Kostunica, who is leading in all independent polls, has promised to seek the 
return of the estimated 200,000 Serbs who fled Kosovo after Yugoslav forces 
withdrew. That worries Kosovo Albanians, who complain Serb opposition leaders 
have never openly condemned Milosevic for his crackdown in Kosovo. 

``The opposition of Serbia never criticized Milosevic (on Kosovo). They have 
the same ideas,'' Sabit Abdullahi said. ``Kostunica is a modern nationalist. 
I don't believe the West understands this.'' 


#2.
UN Says Kosovo Albanians Ignored Yugoslav Vote

By Douglas Hamilton
  
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanians ignored the 
Yugoslav elections on Sunday, dismissing them as a purely Serbian event of no 
consequence to the province which they are determined will soon be an 
independent homeland. 

The United Nations sent out 300 ``witness teams'' to check the turnout in the 
parliamentary and presidential ballot, and reported after most polls had 
closed in Kosovo at 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) that 44,167 people had entered polling 
stations, all of them in predominantly Serb areas. 

``I can assure you that any claim of massive participation by Kosovo 
Albanians in the so-called FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) election in 
Kosovo would be a fiction or a manipulation,'' Kosovo's U.N. administrator 
Bernard Kouchner told a news conference midway through the voting. 

``As far as the Serb and other non-Albanian areas (are concerned) we have 
witnessed that the number of stations in operation this morning are far fewer 
than the sites Belgrade claims to have set up,'' he told a news conference. 

``There were no major incidents,'' he said, at his second news conference of 
the day. He said the UN figures were not scientific, but indicated the 
maximum possible number of voters. 

``We were witnesses, not observers,'' Kouchner said. 

Six hours after the start of voting, only 55 people -- all Serbs -- had cast 
ballots at one of two polling stations in Pristina, the capital city of some 
500,000 inhabitants. 

They were adult members of mostly displaced families, who voted in an 
unfinished basement room of an apartment complex that has become a virtual 
prison yard for 150 Serbs, with British commandos providing round-the-clock 
protection against potential Albanian revenge attacks. 

For the rest of the capital, the election was a non-event. 

``Serbia? We have nothing to do with them. Let them go to hell,'' said 
pensioner Nazmie Hoxha. 

EYES ON THEIR OWN OCTOBER ELECTION 

An estimated 60,000 Kosovo Serbs were eligible to vote -- a tiny fraction of 
Yugoslavia's 7.4 million electorate. Serbian claims that Kosovo Albanians 
would also be keen to cast ballots were laughed off by Kosovars. 

Kosovo holds its own municipal elections in one month -- the first test of 
democracy in the province since NATO and the United Nations took control in 
June last year. 

The United Nations will establish 1,500 polling stations for that vote. On 
Sunday, by contrast, there were 260 polling sites. Eight municipalities had 
no polling stations and in 12 the U.N. had seen no activity half way through 
the day. 

Putting up a wall of bright blue posters in Pristina to encourage a big 
turnout on October 28, Sami Kastrati said: ``We are getting ready for our 
elections, and we have nothing to do with this vote that's being held today. 
Those are elections of a foreign country.'' 

A U.N. spokesman in the divided northern city of Mitrovica said after touring 
polling stations in the Serb-dominated northern section that the city was 
generally quiet. 

The UN's witness teams check of the turnout was aimed at countering any 
exaggerated claims by the Milosevic regime, suspected of preparing massive 
electoral fraud to keep him in power. 

Kouchner said it had succeeded in heading off any claim that Kosovo Albanians 
had participated. 

``This major effort by UNMIK has shown that there was no significant voting 
outside of predominantly Serb areas,'' he said. 


#3.
Opposition Claiming Yugoslavia Vote

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
  
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - After an election Sunday marked by a large 
turnout and allegations of fraud, Yugoslavia's once struggling opposition 
claimed victory and urged Slobodan Milosevic to peacefully quit power after 
13 years of hardline rule. 

Milosevic, however, showed no signs of conceding defeat. His spokesman, 
Nikola Sainovic, told reporters early Monday he doubted there would even be a 
need for a run-off vote - required if no candidate gets more than 50 percent 
- because ``our candidate is leading.'' 

The state election commission closed up for the night without announcing any 
official returns. Voting - in which the turnout was estimated at higher than 
70 percent - was plagued Sunday by reports of blatant irregularities by 
Milosevic backers, including ballot box stuffing, the few domestic monitors 
watching the polls said. 

Still, two rival opposition parties said Milosevic was trailing his strongest 
challenger, Vojislav Kostunica, and that the best the Yugoslav president 
could hope for was to head into a runoff Oct. 8. They based the claims on 
counts by their own vote monitors. 

``According to our count, the first-round victory is certain. Dawn is coming 
to Serbia. I'm excited,'' Kostunica said early Monday. ``I'm happy for the 
people and the country because it's almost the last moment to take the 
destiny in our hands. There is much work ahead.'' 

``There is no doubt that we overwhelmingly won on all levels,'' said 
opposition campaign manager Zoran Djindjic. ``Milosevic has to seriously 
understand the judgment of history, and he shouldn't gamble any longer. He 
has to recognize the defeat. It seems, this is the end of his career.'' 

Confident of victory by an opposition that seemed hopelessly fragmented only 
months ago, huge crowds streamed into the streets of downtown Belgrade late 
Sunday to await official results. Helmeted riot police carrying shields and 
armed with tear gas launchers cordoned off the group but later withdrew after 
a concert by Milosevic's supporters ended. 

Similar gatherings were reported in Nis, Novi Sad, Cacak and several other 
towns in Yugoslavia's main republic Serbia. There were no reports of clashes, 
and early Monday the crowds in Belgrade were returning home. 

With no offical word on results, Western governments held late night 
consultations to determine how to respond if Milosevic rigs the count. 

In Washington, the State Department warned that ``the world is watching these 
elections and the response of the authorities in Belgrade very closely.'' 

In the voting, ``large numbers of the population ... expressed their wishes 
in an election where the choice was clear,'' spokesman Richard Boucher said. 
``We congratulate the people of Yugoslavia on their commitment to 
democracy.'' 

Sainovic, who like Milosevic is under international indictment for war 
crimes, disputed the opposition claims of victory. He claimed that with 20 
percent of the votes counted, Milosevic was leading by 44 percent while 
Kostunica had 41 percent. 

Those figures were different from those posted on the party's own web site, 
which showed Kostunica leading with 44 percent to 41 percent for Milosevic. 

Cedomir Jovanovic, spokesman of Kostunica's Democratic Opposition of Serbia, 
said that based on returns from 45 percent of 10,000 polling stations, 
Kostunica was leading with 57 percent to 33 percent for Milosevic. Three 
other candidates are in the race. 

The ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party, Milosevic's partner in Serbia's 
government, reported Kostunica leading Milosevic by 53.5 percent to 37.9 
percent with about 20 percent of the votes counted. The party admitted its 
own candidate was defeated. 

The United States - which has invested millions of dollars in an attempt to 
organize the traditionally fractured Serbian opposition - has made ousting 
Milosevic a major goal, believing there can be no stability in the Balkans so 
long as he remains in power. 

The stakes were especially high in the voting, which also included selection 
of a new parliament and municipal governments. 

If Milosevic loses, he risks extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in 
The Hague, Netherlands, which indicted him last year for atrocities committed 
by his troops in Kosovo. He may also risk massive revenge by Yugoslavs tired 
of being an impoverished pariah country after a decade of his rule. 

The European Union has promised massive aid to Yugoslavia if Milosevic loses. 
Montenegro, the smaller republic that along with Serbia forms present-day 
Yugoslavia, said it would hold an independence referendum if Milosevic wins. 

Kostunica had been leading in opinion polls despite a campaign marred by a 
crackdown against opposition supporters, one-sided coverage by the staunchly 
pro-Milosevic media and the lack of broad-based foreign monitoring. 

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy, a private group including human 
rights workers, lawyers and other volunteers, reported a turnout of 74.6 
percent in Yugoslavia's main republic Serbia. 

In the smaller republic of Montenegro - where the pro-Western government 
boycotted the vote - the turnout was only about 24 percent, the opposition 
said. 

Milosevic made no statement about the seemingly unfavorable returns. Earlier 
Sunday, he brushed aside accusations that he would rig the vote to stay in 
power, predicting prosperity after he wins and his troubled country is 
``cleared up'' politically. 

The president's statement, made after he cast his ballot in the Dedinje 
district where he lives, may indicate he plans to crack down hard on 
political opponents - whom he has dubbed NATO lackeys and traitors - if he's 
declared the winner. 

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy reported major voting 
irregularities. They included opposition representatives being kicked out of 
polling stations or not allowed to inspect voters' lists, voting boxes and 
ballots. 

At many voting places, police were present in front of polling stations, and 
there was public - instead of secret - voting in southern regions of Serbia, 
according to the center, a nongovernmental organization which included human 
rights activists, lawyers and other pro-democracy volunteers. 

In the eastern town of Negotin, opposition representatives were banned from a 
polling station but managed to get in by force, only to find that the ballot 
boxes had been stuffed in advance with ballots for Milosevic, the 
Belgrade-based group said. 

``There is an absolute mess in Serbia today,'' said Marko Blagojevic from 
independent monitoring group. ``I don't think elections like this were ever 
held anywhere, ever since the Stone Age.'' 

The government's electoral commission said the vote passed without 
irregularities, ``despite Western propaganda.'' 

Sainovic claimed Milosevic won ``overwhelmingly'' in Kosovo. However, the 
chief U.N. administrator in the province, Bernard Kouchner, said the 
``so-called elections did not meet any international and European standards 
in terms of democracy.'' 

Most of the examples cited by the monitoring group could not be confirmed. 
However, in Kosovo, Western reporters saw cases where polling stations were 
never opened, where prominent opposition members were told their names were 
not on registration rolls or where voters had no privacy to mark their 
ballots. 

Others were turned away because their names did not appear on registration 
lists. Officials claimed that was a result of the turmoil that swept Kosovo 
during last year's conflict, which ended with the arrival of NATO-led 
peacekeepers. 


#4.
Kostunica Claims Victory in Crucial Yugoslav Poll

By Philippa Fletcher
 
BELGRADE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica on 
Monday predicted certain victory for himself over the veteran incumbent 
Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia's presidential election. 

But while Kostunica said a first round triumph was guaranteed once official 
results of Sunday's election came through later in the week, Milosevic's 
Socialist Party were just as adamant that their figures showed Milosevic 
would keep power. 

Kostunica's followers took their cry of triumph to the streets. But in the 
absence of any official figures, uncertainty still hung over the outcome of 
the vote, the most serious electoral threat yet to Milosevic's 13-year rule. 

Milosevic, indicted for war crimes by a United Nations tribunal, has been 
accused by the West of planning to rig the election in any way necessary to 
ensure he remains in power. 

Changes in election rules, a lack of independent foreign monitoring and 
reports of intimidation of voters were all seen as stacking the vote in 
Milosevic's favour. 

The opposition says it is keen to publicise its version of early, partial 
results to prevent the authorities using fraud. 

``According to our data for the presidential elections, victory in the first 
round is certain,'' Kostunica told reporters early on Monday. 

Earlier thousands of his supporters had danced and cheered to music in the 
capital Belgrade and other cities. 

WEST REMAINS CAUTIOUS 

``Look how happy people are when they see even such a small sign of 
victory,'' said one of them, 25-year-old Pedja. 

The United States said the elections -- for president and parliament -- had 
been badly flawed and warned Milosevic that his response was being watched. 

The European Union was more cautious, saying it was too soon to declare an 
opposition victory. It said it was consulting closely with its allies, 
including Russia, on how to respond should Milosevic be re-elected by unfair 
means. 

Kostunica said data from 1,237 out of 10,000 polling stations gave him 54.05 
percent support, compared to 33.81 percent for Milosevic. 

But the ruling Socialist Party said the president had a 44 to 41 percent lead 
over Kostunica, after trailing far behind him in independent pre-election 
polls. 

``We still think our presidential candidate is in the lead and we think the 
voting can end in the first round,'' said Deputy Prime Minister Nikola 
Sainovic, a Milosevic loyalist. 

A candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to win outright without 
having to contest a second round. 

Intriguingly, the state news agency Tanjug, which usually prints only news 
favourable to the government, reported the Radical Party, former allies of 
Milosevic but now estranged, as saying that it reckoned Kostunica had an 
eight-point lead. 

Turnout appeared to have been high, at above 70 percent, which analysts said 
would benefit the opposition. 

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the turnout showed the people of 
Serbia had ``seized the opportunity to vote for their democratic rights 
despite repeated systematic attempts by the Milosevic regime to bully and 
intimidate them.'' 

NO SIGNIFICANT VIOLENCE 

Fears that violence would be stoked to provide an excuse for a clampdown 
proved unjustified, with rival opposition and government rallies passing off 
peacefully in major cities. 

Opposition figures and a leading analyst said Milosevic would wait until 
later on Monday before responding to what they said would be an overwhelming 
defeat. 

``There will be nothing from the authorities tonight. The ruling left is now 
in a state of panic,'' said Bratislav Grubacic of the VIP newsletter. ``They 
don't know how to come out with the real result since they know Kostunica is 
winning.'' 

There was some joy for Milosevic in the coastal republic of Montenegro, 
Serbia's smaller partner in the Yugoslav federation, where he won an easy 
victory. 

However, Montenegro accounts for less than six percent of registered Yugoslav 
voters and a boycott by the pro-Western government of the republic meant that 
those who turned out were largely Milosevic supporters. 

In Kosovo, the United Nations administrators sent out what it called mobile 
``witnessing'' teams to check the turnout to ensure ballot-boxes could not be 
``stuffed'' with the votes of Kosovo Albanians, estimated to total up to 1.8 
million. 

Around 60,000 Kosovo Serbs, all that remains of a population of some 200,000 
before last year's NATO air strikes, are eligible to vote. 

``I can assure you that any claim of massive participation by Kosovo 
Albanians in the so-called FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) election in 
Kosovo would be a fiction or a manipulation,'' U.N. administrator Bernard 
Kouchner said.