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PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHPS #0611/01 2200544
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P 080544Z AUG 07
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7596
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1242
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RHMFISS/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000611 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, AND EUR/SCE, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN FOR 
DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/07/2017 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM UNMIK KV YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: PDK HANGS TOGETHER DESPITE DIFFERENCES, 
QUESTIONS ABOUT THACI'S LEADERSHIP 
 
Classified By: CDA ALEX LASKARIS FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C/NF) SUMMARY:  As a possible election season approaches, 
the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) is hanging 
together despite internal fault lines.  PDK MPs are 
frustrated with the Unity Team and have criticized party 
president Hashim Thaci's leadership.  Thaci himself is 
reportedly backsliding in his support for open list 
elections, fearing that his main rival E.O. listee Fatmir 
Limaj may be more popular than he.  However, party officials 
still urged that elections be held as soon as possible, and 
are confident that the new open list system will not lead to 
damaging intra-party competition.  Optimism about the 
party,s chances in elections will likely encourage members 
to close ranks in the near term, believing that the PDK will 
do well enough in the next elections to win key posts, 
including the premiership.  END SUMMARY. 
 
MOVING FORWARD BUT UNSURE OF THE DETAILS 
 
¶2. (C/NF) As the fractious July 30 Kosovo Assembly debate 
demonstrated, the PDK does not have a unified stance on the 
status delay.  PDK caucus leader Jakup Krasniqi harshly 
criticized the Unity Team's efforts, while PDK Assembly 
presidency member Xhavit Haliti defended not setting a 
deadline.  In our earlier private conversations with many PDK 
officials, several directly criticized Thaci for the 
compromises the UT made and for letting internationals lead 
the process, but none openly challenged his authority or 
suggested alternate leaders. 
 
¶3. (C/NF) However, PDK officials said they expect significant 
changes in the makeup of the PDK Assembly caucus after 
central elections.  Hajredin Kuci, an MP and leading member 
of the constitutional working group, said that many hardline 
PDK MPs have not contributed much to the PDK's effort to 
govern and were only given seats as a reward for their 
actions during the 1999 conflict.  He felt two mandates in 
the Assembly were enough for the likes of hardliners such as 
Hydajet Hyseni, Nait Hasani, and Xhevat Bislimi, and the PDK 
should start looking to fill its Assembly seats with, in 
Kuci's words, "people who can actually govern."  According to 
Kuci, this would include Hague-acquitted E.O.-listee Fatmir 
Limaj, Jakup Krasniqi, MP Enver Hoxhaj, and the currently 
unaffiliated AmCham president (and former Prime Minister 
Bajram Rexhepi's spokeswoman) Mimoza Kusari. 
 
¶4.  (C/NF)  PDK Pristina branch president Ramadan Avdiu also 
listed Limaj, Hoxhaj, and Krasniqi as popular potential 
candidates, along with Haliti, Kuci, Thaci, and Rexhepi.  For 
his part, Rexhepi endorsed Krasniqi, Hoxhaj, Kuci, and MP 
Fehmi Mujota, but singled out Nait Hasani and Fatmir Limaj's 
MP brother Demir Limaj as being among the 16 or 17 PDK MPs 
unlikely to win Assembly seats in the next election.  Hyseni 
and Hasani both harshly criticized the UT, and Rexhepi and 
Hyseni expressed disappointment in Thaci's performance as a 
leader.  Hyseni complained that the Kosovo leadership should 
take some initiative rather than taking a backseat to 
internationals leading the process.  Rexhepi worried that no 
Kosovo leader, Thaci included, has the authority - moral or 
otherwise - to keep Kosovars calm in case of a provocative, 
March 2004-style incident. 
 
UNITY DURING ELECTIONS? 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Historically, intra-party competition among 
candidates has been restricted to party conventions, which 
occur on a separate calendar from elections.  The 2004 
central elections were held with a closed list; parties chose 
candidates and put them on the ballot in the priority order 
they preferred.  The next elections, however, will likely be 
open-list; the party will still choose its candidates, but 
Assembly seats will go to the individual candidates who 
receive the most votes in their parties ) essentially, the 
voting public re-orders the list.  This situation is somewhat 
like having a combined primary and regular election, and 
 
PRISTINA 00000611  002 OF 002 
 
 
candidates could campaign against members of their own 
parties to gain party votes. 
 
¶6. (C/NF) PDK officials said they did not expect that their 
candidates would negatively campaign against each other 
during elections.  Instead, they said they would travel to 
their home regions to campaign positively for themselves and 
the party.  Experts who provide training to political parties 
also doubted candidates would develop sophisticated enough 
strategies to campaign against party rivals without being 
seen as traitors themselves. 
 
STRONG ENOUGH TO RUN ALONE 
 
¶7. (C/NF) Although a possible five percent election threshold 
for parties to gain Assembly seats has sparked discussion of 
pre-election coalitions, Krasniqi expressed confidence that 
PDK does not need to join forces with anyone in order to take 
over the government following elections.  Kuci favored 
governing (though not necessarily pre-election) coalitions 
between PDK and several smaller parties.  According to party 
training experts, the PDK's youth wing is more active than 
ever, capitalizing on the LDK-LDD split that devastated the 
formerly powerful LDK youth wing.  Every PDK official 
stressed the importance of holding elections as soon as 
possible. 
 
THACI REPORTEDLY AFRAID OF LIMAJ ON OPEN LIST 
 
¶8. (C/NF) In a recent twist, according to PDSRSG Schook 
(protect), Thaci fears Limaj will receive more votes than he, 
and has therefore expressed reservations about holding open 
list elections.  Although PDK officials below Thaci do not 
envision campaigning directly against each other, it is 
unclear how Thaci and Limaj would themselves behave during 
campaign season. 
 
¶9. (C/NF) COMMENT:  Many PDK members are frustrated with both 
the Unity Team and hardline MPs.  Thaci's fear indicates an 
escalation of the Thaci-Limaj rivalry that could polarize 
lower-level factions within the party.  But party officials 
are united in pushing for elections as soon as possible, and 
confident that the new open-list system will not inspire 
damaging intra-party competition, at least below the level of 
Thaci and Limaj.  With momentum growing in the PDK youth 
wing, the overall mood is optimistic that the party will 
emerge from elections with a firm hold on the Kosovo 
government.  As long as this optimism prevails, PDK members 
will likely stick together to win together. 
LASKARIS