OSCE Chairman-in-Office welcomes broad participation in Kosovo municipal elections

LISBON, 2 August 2002 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Portuguese Foreign Minister Antonio Martins da Cruz, has welcomed the certification of political entities running in the forthcoming Municipal Elections in Kosovo. Those entities certified represent, for the first time, the full range of Kosovo's communities.

The Municipal Elections on 26 October are considered a benchmark in institution-building and will build on the successes of the last two elections in Kosovo. Kosovo's political leaders have been working with the OSCE and others in the international community to make these, the second municipal elections, inclusive of all communities.

The diversity of entities is a positive signal of people's political expression as the people of Kosovo begin assuming greater responsibility and become more active in working to find solutions for local concerns.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) at its latest meeting today approved 30 political entities - 19 political parties, 7 citizens' initiatives and 4 independent candidates. This is the final group to be recommended to the CEC which has met all the requirements for certification and is now eligible to participate in Kosovo's second Municipal Elections on 26 October.

A number of political entities were not certified in individual municipalities because they provided either fraudulent or insufficient signatures, or signatures of voters not registered to vote in a particular municipality.

The OSCE is committed to carrying out the electoral process as a demonstration of its continued support for democratic development in Kosovo. The Organization will use its experience of running the successful municipal (2000) and the Kosovo Assembly elections (2001) for the municipal elections on 26 October.