VZCZCXRO8321
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHPS #0582/01 3641723
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301723Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9589
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1310
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1847
RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFISS/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUZEJAA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000582 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/PGI, EUR/ACE, DRL, PRM, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: THREE CONTENTIOUS RACES MAR SECOND PHASE OF 
MUNINCIPAL ELECTIONS 
 
REF: PRISTINA 548 
 
PRISTINA 00000582  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In the wake of the December 13 runoffs, three of 
Kosovo's mayoral elections remain undecided and mired in partisan 
accusations of electoral fraud between governing coalition partners 
PDK and LDK.  The Central Elections Commission (CEC) and the 
independent Elections Complaints and Appeals Commission (ECAC), the 
two institutional bodies responsible for managing the country's 
electoral process and adjudicating election complaints respectively, 
have struggled to resolve allegations of fraud in mayoral races in 
Prizren, Lipjan/Lipljan and Gjilan/Gnjilane.  A split-the-baby 
decision by the CEC to hold new runoffs in Prizren and 
Lipjan/Lipljan on January 31, but only to recount ballots in 
Gjilan/Gnjilane, has tarnished an electoral process that had won 
praise from observers for its relative fairness and transparency 
after the first-round of municipal elections on November 15. 
Moreover, friction between central government coalition partners PDK 
and LDK seems only to grow as a result of this dispute, feeding 
rumors of possible early general elections.  END SUMMARY 
 
IRREGULARITIES CITED IN THREE MAYORAL RACES 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) On December 19, ECAC issued a decision instructing the CEC 
to organize new runoff mayoral elections for Prizren, Lipjan/Lipljan 
and Gjilan/Gnjilane municipalities, citing evidence of serious 
irregularities and/or electoral fraud affecting over half of the 
polling centers in each municipality.  All three mayoral races were 
competitive contests between incumbent mayors representing Prime 
Minister Thaci's PDK and challengers from LDK (its partner in an 
uneasy coalition at the central level).  The December 13 runoffs 
left Prizren too-close-to-call, hanging on uncounted conditional 
ballots, while Lipjan/Lipljan and Gjilan/Gnjilane trended towards 
tight PDK victories.  However, when the CEC asked ECAC to clarify 
whether its decision was legally binding, ECAC, composed of three 
Kosovo judges who were left interpreting an ambiguous provision of 
the election law, subsequently ruled that its decision was only 
suggested guidance and that the final decision whether to order new 
elections rested with the CEC. 
 
PDK CHERRY-PICKS ECAC DECISION 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) The CEC is composed of representatives of all the country's 
major political parties and includes representatives from the Serb, 
Bosniak, Turkish and Roma communities.  However, the ten-member body 
is effectively controlled by PDK, which alone among the other 
parties has two representatives, and consistently enjoys the support 
of the four minority representatives on all important votes. 
Against this backdrop, on December 22, the CEC voted to hold new 
runoff mayoral elections in Prizren and Lipjan/Lipljan pursuant to 
ECAC's decision, but decided instead to recount ballots in 
Gjilan/Gnjilane and investigate ECAC's allegations of electoral 
fraud in that race alone.  On December 29, it voted to hold these 
new runoffs January 31.  LDK has accused the PDK and its allies of 
cherry-picking ECAC's decision to benefit PDK and its candidates in 
the three municipalities. 
 
¶4. (SBU) LDK contacts told us that PDK's lead in Gjilan/Gnjilane was 
large enough that they expected to lose even if all of the ballots 
LDK had protested were tossed out.  Therefore, a recount in 
Gjilan/Gnjilane, rather than a revote, preserves a PDK victory 
there.  By contrast, a recount in Prizren, where about a thousand 
conditional ballots from mostly urban, LDK-leaning areas remained to 
be counted, could have resulted in an LDK upset in one of the 
country's largest cities.  Instead, PDK now has an opportunity to 
retain the mayoralty in Prizren through a revote.  In the 
Lipjan/Lipljan runoff PDK enjoyed a narrow lead over LDK (50.5 
percent to 49.5 percent), but there too it could not be sure of 
prevailing in a recount that included uncounted conditional ballots. 
 Like Prizren, PDK now has a second bite at the apple in 
 
PRISTINA 00000582  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Lipjan/Lipljan via the January 31 revote. 
 
EMBASSY TO CEC: TWO OUT OF THREE NOT A PASSING GRADE 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) On December 23, in the midst of the controversy, the 
Ambassador met with CEC Chair Nesrin Lushta to assure her of the 
USG's continued support for the election process.  After these 
consultations, we issued a statement welcoming the CEC's decision to 
implement, in part, the ECAC decision that instructed that new 
mayoral runoff elections be held, but also expressing the hope that, 
upon further review, the CEC would recognize its obligation fully to 
respect ECAC's decision to hold new elections in Gjilan/Gnjilane as 
well.  Finally, the statement noted that the intent of the law in 
this matter was clear, applauded Lushta's efforts to uphold the law, 
and encouraged all political parties to respect both the letter and 
the spirit of the law.  The CEC has so far refused to review its 
decision to implement the ECAC's decision only in part. 
 
CEC CERTIFIES OTHER RESULTS 
--------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) In a separate development December 29, CEC certified 
results for the remaining 18 mayoral races, which accorded with 
preliminary results reported after the December 13 runoffs (Reftel). 
 The Embassy, USAID and USAID's election assistance implementers 
IFES continue to cooperate closely with CEC staff on election 
issues; the recount for Gjilan/Gnjilane has been postponed until 
January 6 and CEC has agreed to allow IFES' elections experts to 
conduct the investigation into ECAC's allegations of election 
irregularities in Gjilan/Gnjilane. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Our public statement in support of the full implementation 
of ECAC's decision was intended to give the CEC the space it needed 
to make a difficult but important choice.  While the statement was 
welcomed by independent pundits and prognosticators, we are 
disappointed that CEC Chair Lushta and the organization she leads 
failed to seize the space opened up for them to honor ECAC's intent 
on Gjilan/Gnjilane.  In the meantime, LDK frustration with what it 
and others perceive as a crass PDK power play is growing, partisan 
bickering among PDK and LDK party representatives in the CEC is 
continuing, and speculation about the future of the coalition is 
rising.  In this environment, it is difficult to imagine the January 
31 runoffs in Prizren and Lipjan/Lipljan doing anything other than 
further poisoning relations between PDK and LDK, a trend that, if 
left unchecked, increases the likelihood of early general elections 
in 2010. 
 
MURPHY