UNMIK/PR/1256
“Good morning. It’s good to see you all again. I wanted to come here and see how the counting process is taking place. After having seen what is happening here, I can confirm what I already said last night, that is, while they are counting here there are already some very clear winners. Clear winners are the voters who went out in big numbers yesterday to cast their votes for the future. The winners are the Central Election Commission, who for the first time organized the elections - as you saw yesterday - in an absolutely magnificent way with very good arrangements. The winners are the security forces, KFOR, UNMIK, KPS, and again, the citizens, all those who contributed to very peaceful, very calm and very good elections. So to me already the winner is Kosovo.
What I have seen here today is very reassuring. This is a highly professional, highly sophisticated and very fool-proof process. No doubt about that. Now evidently we have to look forward. Now as soon as we have the results, I expect the political parties to first of all evidently accept the results and get down to work. And get down to work means two things: first of all, those political parties that represent the Kosovo Albanians, they must hear and they must act upon the messages from voters yesterday. Wherever I went and wherever I asked what do you expect from your elected representatives, they said: “a better future”. When I asked them what “a better future means”, they said better economy, better living conditions, jobs. When I asked them “have you voted before?”, they said “yes”. “Did your politicians deliver in the past?”, “No”, they said, “but we will give them another chance”. I think the message from Kosovo Albanians is very clear.
But it is equally to important to listen to the voices of the minorities, and particularly to the Kosovo Serbs. Listen to the voice of those few who voted, but also listen to the voice of many, who either decided not to vote, probably for good reasons, or those who were too afraid to vote. They also have some concerns. Their concerns are linked to the implementation of standards. Their concerns are the rule of law, the protection of minorities and decentralization. Therefore, it is important for us to listen to their concerns. And above all, it is important now to get the political parties together, the majorities with the minorities, on a constructive dialogue.
So I think the message is very clear and now it is really up to the political parties, to the majority and the minorities to hear those voices and act. We don’t have a lot of time. If you want to move Kosovo forward, get down to work as quickly as possible, get on with it. That is my message.”
Q: Mr. Jessen-Petersen, so are you optimistic that the government will be formed as soon as possible, after the counting of the results? We have seen many problems after the first assembly elections when three months were wasted.
“I am absolutely convinced that the political parties understand the urgency. I think we have now laid out a clear strategy, a clear plan and a clear way ahead. They know what the timelines are. They know they don’t have a lot of time to lose. And above all, they should recognize that so many voters have turned out. Because they now have trust in this future we have laid out. So I believe the message is clear and if the political parties don’t get it, I would be very surprised. So I do expect them to sit down, look at the results, accept the results and see how to form the government and, as I said, get down to work.”