UNMIK/PR/729
SRSG Michael Steiner announced today that municipal elections will be held across Kosovo on 26 October, 2002.
He explained that a delay in passage of the OSCE elections budget, which was approved on 19 April, caused a delay in beginning operational procedures for the elections and consequently a change in date from 21 September, as announced earlier.
"Six months is the minimum amount of time necessary to conduct elections of this type in accordance with the highest international standards," SRSG Michael Steiner said. "And those standards will be maintained."
"A six-month time-frame allows Pillar III (OSCE) to provide services and develop products that enable full participation by all of Kosovo’s communities in the electoral process, while maintaining the high standards necessary to fight fraud."
Scheduling elections for 26 October, as recommended by OSCE’s head, DSRSG Ambassador Pascal Fieschi, "will give the time to prepare elections with full participation and maximum transparency," said SRSG Michael Steiner.
"This date will also enable us to forge ahead with handing over responsibility for elections to the people of Kosovo,” he continued.
“This will be done through the establishment of a Provisional Election Management Body, which is expected to assume responsibility for elections as early as 2005.
"Already in 2002, we will have about a 50% reduction in international staff compared to 2001, which shows that we mean it when we talk about transfer of responsibilities.
"These elections are important as they will strengthen democracy and multi-ethnicity at the municipal level by securing proper representation of all the communities of Kosovo,” SRSG Michael Steiner concluded.
