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OSCE publishes report on voter concerns in Kosovo
PRISTINA 3 October 2000
PRISTINA, 3 October 2000 - On 28 October the people of Kosovo will have the opportunity to select their municipal leaders. In these elections voters will be choosing members from their community to serve the community s interests. These persons will need to respond to the problems and concerns of local communities and the needs of people who live in them.
The report Voters' Voices: Community Concerns presents the concerns and priorities expressed by over 1,000 people in 72 community meetings held across Kosovo. Among those who participated were people of different ages, backgrounds and professions as well as from the various social and ethnic groups living in Kosovo. People were asked to prioritize the 15 issues determined by the UNMIK Regulation on Self-Governance of Municipalities in Kosovo, areas that lie within the responsibilities of elected municipal leaders. The five issues most frequently identified by participants were: Health Care, Education, Economic Development, Water and Social Services. The results of their concerns compiled in an OSCE publication will be shared with political parties and voters in the coming weeks.
The purpose of Voters' Voices is to present candidates for municipal office with general community concerns and priorities voiced by people. It will, in turn, encourage political parties and candidates to focus on concrete issues of concern to voters, and to give people a tool with which to engage political candidates in informed, focused and constructive discussions. It is their concerns, their hopes and their problems that should drive politicians and dictate the course of political campaigns, said OSCE Ambassador Daan Everts. More broadly, the intent is to encourage people to hold politicians accountable to their will and challenge politicians to address the most pressing concerns of the community with clear and concrete proposals.
Overall, the results convey a strong sense that the people of Kosovo are anxious to move forward, to become free of fear and violence, to see their society progress and to achieve a level of modernization comparable with the rest of Europe. They are impatient and frustrated by the constraints they believe Kosovo's damaged and dysfunctional infrastructure has imposed upon the opportunities for economic and social development. More urgently, they describe the need to move beyond the daily struggle to get by with limited access to health care, education, employment opportunities, social and other public services they believe essential to leading a normal life.
Voters' Voices will be used in a variety of election-related activities including town hall meetings and radio debates arranged by OSCE, moderated by journalists and other local figures, and attended by political candidates and interested citizens. As the public discusses the project findings, an open dialogue on the issues identified will encourage an open and transparent election process and bring the agendas of the electorate and politicians closer together.
In the preparation of this report, the OSCE Democratization Department worked in co-operation with the USAID Office of Transitional Initiatives and the International Organization for Migration, the affiliated Community Improvement Councils, and the Mother Theresa Society
A copy of the Report, Voters' Voices, is available on the OSCE Mission in Kosovo website: //www.osce.org/kosovo
The report Voters' Voices: Community Concerns presents the concerns and priorities expressed by over 1,000 people in 72 community meetings held across Kosovo. Among those who participated were people of different ages, backgrounds and professions as well as from the various social and ethnic groups living in Kosovo. People were asked to prioritize the 15 issues determined by the UNMIK Regulation on Self-Governance of Municipalities in Kosovo, areas that lie within the responsibilities of elected municipal leaders. The five issues most frequently identified by participants were: Health Care, Education, Economic Development, Water and Social Services. The results of their concerns compiled in an OSCE publication will be shared with political parties and voters in the coming weeks.
The purpose of Voters' Voices is to present candidates for municipal office with general community concerns and priorities voiced by people. It will, in turn, encourage political parties and candidates to focus on concrete issues of concern to voters, and to give people a tool with which to engage political candidates in informed, focused and constructive discussions. It is their concerns, their hopes and their problems that should drive politicians and dictate the course of political campaigns, said OSCE Ambassador Daan Everts. More broadly, the intent is to encourage people to hold politicians accountable to their will and challenge politicians to address the most pressing concerns of the community with clear and concrete proposals.
Overall, the results convey a strong sense that the people of Kosovo are anxious to move forward, to become free of fear and violence, to see their society progress and to achieve a level of modernization comparable with the rest of Europe. They are impatient and frustrated by the constraints they believe Kosovo's damaged and dysfunctional infrastructure has imposed upon the opportunities for economic and social development. More urgently, they describe the need to move beyond the daily struggle to get by with limited access to health care, education, employment opportunities, social and other public services they believe essential to leading a normal life.
Voters' Voices will be used in a variety of election-related activities including town hall meetings and radio debates arranged by OSCE, moderated by journalists and other local figures, and attended by political candidates and interested citizens. As the public discusses the project findings, an open dialogue on the issues identified will encourage an open and transparent election process and bring the agendas of the electorate and politicians closer together.
In the preparation of this report, the OSCE Democratization Department worked in co-operation with the USAID Office of Transitional Initiatives and the International Organization for Migration, the affiliated Community Improvement Councils, and the Mother Theresa Society
A copy of the Report, Voters' Voices, is available on the OSCE Mission in Kosovo website: //www.osce.org/kosovo