Opinion: Will Serbs Ever Learn to Love NATO? November 26 - December 9, 2010 Issue No. 52 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1 Businesses ELECTION SPECIAL Dead President Slam Rugova Still On Maternity Electoral Roll Leave > page 3 Extension NEWS Serbia ‘Starting A new labour law has Kosovo Talks angered the Kosovo Empty-handed’ business community after it extended maternity leave from four months to a year See Page 6 Poll Errors Raise Fears > page 5 BUSINESS For Kosovo Election Delays Risk Concerns have been raised about the preparedness of Kosovo’s election bodies and its largest monitoring mission after Kosovo’s World both admitted making serious errors in a municipal poll. Bank Aid results announced on Monday. two of the three polling stations their mistakes, and handed the > page 6 By Petrit Collaku The error put the Democratic forgotten by the CEC. During the second place in the poll to the League of Kosovo, LDK, in first communications process between AAK. osovo’s Central Election place with 28.3 per cent and the monitors at the polling stations The discovery that major errors NEIGHBOURHOOD Commission, the CEC, and Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and those inputting data at the had occurred in a small municipal Business Booms for Kthe country’s largest moni- in second place with 26.9 per cent. headquarters in Prishtina, votes election has raised concerns about toring mission, Democracy in The Alliance for the Future of were switched between PDK and how ready Kosovo’s institutions Croatia’s Gigolos Action, have admitted making Kosovo, AAK, candidate, Smajl AAK, again putting the PDK in will be to run a national election in mistakes in counting the votes in Latifi, came third with 25.8 per second place. two weeks’ time. Sunday’s local election in the cent. According to these results, The AAK announced on Monday The former leader of > page 11 southwestern town of Rahovec, the PDK and LDK would have con- that it would contest the results Democracy in Action, which will handing second place to the wrong tested the second round on after it discovered that the three field more than 4,000 monitors in party. December 19. polling stations had not been the general election, rather than It has emerged that the Rahovec The revised results showed put included. It said the errors had 71, as it did on Sunday, said the Municipal Election Commission, the LDK on 27.65 per cent, the AAK deprived it of 457 votes and its errors had damaged the organisa- Kosovo’s only English-language responsible for gathering the on 26.72 per cent and the PDK on rightful second place in the elec- tion and did not bode well for the newspaper is available: results for the CEC, failed to 26.55 per cent. tion. December 12 vote. include the votes from three Democracy in Action also made On Wednesday, both Democracy Delivered to polling stations in the preliminary mistakes in counting the votes in in Action and the CEC confirmed continues page 2 Your Door Organ Trade Charges Kosovo’s Mysterious Dialect From Newsstands Rock Kosovo Fades Away across Kosovo Kosovo’s medical establishment has The small town of Rahovec in the fertile Sent To been rocked by allegations that one of its Dukagjin valley of western Kosovo is Your Inbox top doctors was the ringleader of an inter- mainly famed for its wines, which mix national organ trafficking gang, which varieties plucked from all over the world. lured desperately poor people to Prishtina But one local blend that is less well From to sell their kidneys. known is the area’s unique local dialect, our partners Dr Lutfi Dervishi... which mingles elements... feature page 12-13 culture page 15 see page 23 for more info Y M is supported by: C K 2 November 26 - December 9, 2010 Election Special Editor’s Word Convicted Kosovo Candidates Premtimi Exploit Loophole Concerns about Kosovo’s image have been raised after it By Lawrence Marzouk emerged that the candidate list for the December 12 election includes a series of politicians who are suspected of serious ’m giving up on journal- ism. There’s no money in crimes and others who have been convicted but are allowed Iit. to stand because they are appealing I’ve been inspired to set up my own political party called Syla is under investigation by ‘Vote for Me and I’ll Give You the EU’s rule of law mission, Some Money Party (I EULEX, after a self-declared Promise)’. By Petrit Collaku assassin, Nazim Bllaca, went It’s quite a simple concept, public about his crimes in you see, and will go down like November 2009, implicating Syla a free buffet at a homeless in the work of Kosovo’s unoffi- disco among the poor masses he number of politicians cial secret service, SHIK, which of Kosovo. standing in Kosovo’s general has been officially disbanded. If you vote for me, I’ll give Telection next month who Syla, who was also an impor- you a pay rise. That’s it, sim- have been convicted or are under tant figure in the Kosovo criminal investigations could ple. Liberation Army, has been inter- hamper Kosovo’s European Union It’s a little bit like driving viewed by EULEX and has had integration, civil society mem- around throwing lots of his house searched. No charges bers are warning. money out of the window, have, however, been pressed. According to Kosovo’s law on expect it’s probably legal and The third PDK candidite, general election, a candidate can- more targeted. Rrustrem Mustafa, was sen- not be certified if he or she has And the great thing about tenced last October to four years Elections take place on December 12 been convicted of a crime within this plan is that I will not have for war crimes but has appealed. the previous three years. But Fehmi Ajvazi, the CEC visa liberalisation and from inte- to spend a dime, because the The leader of the biggest oppo- because the law says the ban spokesman, told Balkan Insight. gration of EU,” FOL said in a money I’ll be giving out will be sition party, the Alliance for the applies only following a “final He added that Commission had statement. the money I will have collected Future of Kosovo, AAK, Ramush decision”, those lodging appeals given the public 24 hours to “Also, we ask the CEC, state in taxes from other people Haradinaj is leading the list can still stand. appeal. prosecutor and Kosovo police to who didn’t vote for me. while in detention at The Hague, The Central Election Deputy head of EULEX Andy cooperate better during the certi- It’s a bit like reusing a pres- awaiting a retrial. Commission, CEC, last week cer- Sparkes said that while everyone fication of candidates.” ent from someone you don’t Another party leader seeking tified the list of all candidates of accepts the principle of ‘inno- Anti-corruption NGO COHU like with the cunning use of a votes from the electorate is for- political parties for the December cent until proven guilty’, the said that there had been no legal pretty bow in the hope that the mer assembly speaker Nexhat 12 snap poll, giving the public two decision to run such candidates violations because the system decoration will divert atten- Daci, the head of the Democratic days to make complaints about did nothing for Kosovo’s image. deliberately contained loopholes. tion from the fact that the box League of Dardania. He was would-be parliamentarians. “In my personal view, where Avni Zogiani, the organisa- of chocolates is out of date. found guilty by a Prishtina court But as no complaints were someone is publicly known to be tion’s head, said: “Technically I was thinking that I might on November 10 of “misappropri- received, even candidates who under investigation or judicial there has been no violation on start by offering the teachers ation in office”, which included had been convicted of an offence procedure, it would be better and this issue, but the judicial sys- some extra cash, but then that taking more than 1,000 euro of and were not under appeal, such more honourable, and better for tem is regulated in such a way quick-witted Hashim Thaci public funds to buy himself new as Albin Kurti, leader of the the reputation of Kosovo, if they that it can accommodate political got in before me with his spectacles and have dental work nationalist Vetevendosje move- would not present themselves for violations,” Zogiani told worked-out-on-the-back-of-an- peformed in 2005. He was sen- ment, have been included on the public office until they have Prishtina Insight. envelope announcement. tenced to a one-and-a-half year list. cleared their names,” Sparkes Agim Zogaj, head of the politi- You see, teachers are great suspended sentence but has A total of three party leaders told journalists. cal science department at because there are lots of them, appealed. have either been convicted or The NGO FOL movement sup- Pristina University, claimed that earn little and vote a lot. Also, the CEC has confirmed accused of crimes,and another ported the statement of Sparkes the ‘name issue’ had been over- Still, at least the police is the Self-determination move- three of the top ten candidates after he was attacked for his com- dramatised. left. They are on a measly 250 ment leader Albin Kurti as a can- for the country’s largest party, ments by pro-government publi- “We should not be influenced euros a month, so don’t they didate.