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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000723 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE, NSC FOR BBRAUN, USUN FOR 
DSCHUFLETWOSKI, USOSCE FOR SSTEGER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/24/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: ELECTIONS PLANNING GAINS TRACTION 
 
REF: A. PRISTINA 687 
 
     ¶B. PRISTINA 668 
 
Classified By: COM Tina Kaidanow for reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  An approaching November 17 elections date 
and clear signals from UNMIK, OSCE and others to get to work 
have compelled Kosovar politicians and election officials to 
focus more energy on necessary organizational issues and less 
on public grandstanding about the alleged deficiencies of the 
process.  A recent series of meetings of the Central Election 
Commission (CEC), chaired by OSCE Amb. Werner Wnendt, has 
forced decisions on technical issues and finally galvanized 
all actors (including internationals) into operationalizing 
their plans.  An important catalyst in all of this has been 
the presence at the meetings of both PDSRSG Steven Schook and 
USOP.  Continued strong leadership by the CEC over the next 
six weeks will be essential in keeping this process on track. 
 While some technical aspects to the elections, such as 
printing of ballots and verification of voter registration 
are challenges, voter education will be essential to a 
successful outcome.  Through IFES, USAID is providing USD 
400,000 to support a public information campaign, which 
kicked off the last week of September, and an additional USD 
400,000 for civil society monitoring of elections activities 
and a parallel vote count. USOP also plans to field teams of 
monitors on election day, operating in close coordination but 
independently of the Council of Europe, which has overall 
responsibility for the monitoring effort.  While good 
progress has been made to date, we will need to keep the 
pressure on both the internationals and Kosovars to keep to 
the tight elections timeline.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Technical Preparations on Track 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) In recent CEC meetings, outgoing OSCE Mission Head 
Werner Wnendt was active in finalizing technical aspects of 
the election, in some cases without consensus.  With a push 
from PDSRSG Schook and USOP, Wnendt approved the rule for 
establishing Polling Station Committees (PSC), got agreement 
from the CEC on the appointment of a senior procurement 
officer, finalized the appointments of the Municipal Election 
Commissions (MEC), and won support for the appointment of an 
official CEC secretariat spokesperson.  Significantly, he cut 
off lengthy discussion on the best way to manage 
out-of-Kosovo voting and determined it would be done through 
the mail using ballots downloaded from the CEC website. 
(NOTE: Wnendt departed Kosovo September 27.  He was replaced 
by Tim Guldimann, a Swiss diplomat and former OSCE head in 
Croatia. END NOTE.) 
 
¶3.  (SBU) With most rules, regulations and key hiring 
approved or accomplished, the process must now be 
operationalized.  UNMIK's Office of the Legal Advisor (OLA) 
along with OSCE will ensure that the new senior procurement 
officer has streamlined authority for tendering and 
contracting for all necessary contracts.  With the new CEC 
Secretariat spokesman on board, the public and the press will 
 
SIPDIS 
be able to direct all inquiries on process and technical 
aspects of the elections to one authoritative voice.  The 
person identified for the job is a Kosovar national currently 
on the OSCE staff with experience and a good reputation. 
 
¶4. (SBU) As of October 1, all political entities which had 
applied to participate in the November 17 elections had been 
certified by the CEC, one week ahead of schedule.  The ballot 
lottery which will determine the order in which the political 
entities will be listed on the ballot took place October 4. 
(COMMENT: This gives OSCE important extra time for printing 
the ballots, the logistics of which has been the cause of 
considerable hand wringing at several private meetings with 
USOP.  END COMMENT.) 
 
USOP Focus on Voter Education, Monitoring Effort 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  While the CEC, OSCE, and UNMIK have focused on 
 
PRISTINA 00000723  002 OF 002 
 
 
standing up the elections (with USOP's strong support), USOP, 
through USAID and its partners, has taken the lead to support 
a public information campaign, using IFES as the primary 
implementer.  The campaign will roll out television, radio 
and newspaper advertisements in three phases:  a teaser phase 
telling Kosovars how and where to register and what the 
color-coded ballots will look like (September 24-30); an 
informational/motivational phase (October 1 - November 17); 
and a "respect the results" phase November 17 through any 
necessary second round voting.  Two themes will be woven 
throughout the campaign: "Every Vote Counts" and "Your Vote 
is Secret."  All communications will be done in Albanian, 
Serbian and to a lesser degree, in Turkish, Bosnian and the 
Roma language.  Additionally, television ads will have sign 
language interpretation.  The ballots used on November 17 
will be color-coded: red border for Kosovo Assembly, blue 
border for municipal councils, and yellow border for direct 
election of mayors.  These colors will also be used in the 
voter education campaigns so that information regarding the 
Assembly elections will make heavy use of red, etc. 
 
¶6. (SBU) In addition to funding the public information 
campaign, we are providing funding for a domestic NGO 
coalition, including organizations from the Kosovo Serb 
community, which will undertake various activities including: 
voter awareness, Get Out The Vote (GOTV) events, media 
monitoring, election commission monitoring, a parallel vote 
count, and supporting an elections night media center.  Also, 
a number of KFOR commands will assist in the production of 
voter information materials through design, production and 
distribution of materials on behalf of the NGO coalition. 
 
¶7. (C) Plans are also underway for USOP to stand up election 
monitoring teams.  We will closely cooperate with and seek 
credentials and training from the Council of Europe, 
responsible for the overall monitoring effort, but will field 
our own teams independently and maintain our own reporting 
channels. 
 
¶8. (C) COMMENT: While good progress has been made to date on 
organizing these elections, we will need to keep the pressure 
on both the internationals and the Kosovars to follow through 
on the technical and political challenges that remain.  New 
OSCE Head of Mission  Guldimann appears ready to take on 
these challenges, telling COM in an October 3 courtesy call 
that he is confident that the elections will take place on 
time and that he has put the OSCE elections unit directly 
under his control.  For his part, President Sejdiu has 
invited all main political parties to a dinner on October 5 
to stress the need for a calm, mature elections campaign that 
does not use the final status process as a political football. 
KAIDANOW