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Political Mood on the Eve of Local Elections

Unemployment remains the main problem, while corruption starts to come to surface among other secondary problems for citizens of Kosova. Main priorities for Kosova institutions at the central level should be healthcare system and rule of law, whereas at the local level it should primary healthcare. Majority of leaders and personalities in Kosova have marked a slight decrease in their approval, while only Kurti and Pacolli have increased their rating. Similarly, majority of Kosova institutions have marked a fall in their trust and only Vetëvendosje movement marks a slight increase, while PDK remains the political party with the biggest support in Kosova. Majority of citizens of Kosova are not informed about the mission of the ICO in Kosova.

Overall and local problems

At this time when first signs of the global financial crisis have started to feel in Kosovo too, the main problem facing citizens of Kosova undoubtedly continues to be unemployment. However, the number of citizens considering unemployment a main problem in Kosova has a falling trend since June last year, thus making room for other problems that come to surface. Among these problems, the number of citizens that mention corruption is increasing lately, a fact that tells about a growing concern of citizens about misuse of taxpayers' money.

The problem of unemployment is reflected at the local level as well, where also majority of citizens (58%) believe that the main problem at this level is unemployment. Nevertheless, another important problem facing citizens at the local level is rebuilding of economy and infrastructure (19%).

Recent problems in the healthcare sector, as well as the lack of commitment by the Government of Kosova for this sector, but also obvious problems of post-war Kosova in the field of rule of law, have influenced citizens to identify the healthcare system and the rule of law as the most important priorities for the Government of Kosova. A more or less same message comes from the local level too. One of the public services that need urgent addressing at the local municipal level in the first place is primary healthcare. Furthermore, citizens at the local level would also like to see their local representatives to deal with the problem of garbage collection, water supply and road maintenance.

Readiness to protest has stayed relatively the same since the end of last year. This readiness is mainly related to main problems facing citizens of Kosova. Majority of them are ready to protest because of unemployment (69%) and because of current state of power supply (57%).

Approval of Leaders and Institutions

Although president of a small political party in Kosova, it seems that the image of ex-Prime Minister Agim Çeku as a KLA general and later on KPC general, but also the ending of his mandate as Prime Minister without connections to many corruptions scandals of the previous Government, continue to keep him as the most approved personality in Kosova. President Sejdiu falls in the second place, due to the fact that he has marked a slight fall in his approval rating, and after him follow Haradinaj, Prime Minister Thaçi, Kurti, Pacolli, Surroi, Deputy Prime Minister Kuçi, Daci, Head of the Parliament Krasniqi, Feith, Kermabon and Deputy Prime Minister Manaj.

Leaders that have marked a slight fall in their approval rating beside from President Sejdiu are also Haradinaj, Prime Minister Thaçi and Deputy Prime Minister Kuçi. On the other hand, the trend of increase in their approval has continued for Kurti, who marks a slight increase in his approval rating, as well as for Pacolli, who marks a significant increase in his approval since last year. Although at the end of the list, two main international representatives in Kosova, Feith and Kermabon, have marked a significant increase in their approval rating.

Problems and dissatisfactions with the disband of the Kosova Protection Corps (KPC) and the process of formation of the Kosova Security Force (KSF), as well as dissatisfactions of the Kosova Police officers (KP) and their threat for strike, but also their inability to solve the scandal of theft inside the police, have recently affected the decrease in trust in these two institutions. However, KSF and KP remain the most trusted institutions in Kosova. Consequently, citizens' dissatisfactions are reflected with respect to other institutions, whereas a slight fall in trust have marked the Assembly of Kosova, the Government, courts, as well as mayors of municipalities. The only organization that has marked a slight increase in trust is Vetëvendosje.

The Mandate of the International Civilian Office

Although Peter Feith, as an International Civilian Representative in Kosova has recently marked an increase in his approval among citizens of Kosova, it seems that his office, the International Civilian Office in Kosova (ICO) has failed to properly inform the citizens about its mandate. Almost 70% of Kosovar citizens have said that they do not know what is the mandate and purpose of the ICO in Kosova.

The two main aims of the ICO in Kosova are ensuring full implementation of Kosova's status settlement (Ahtisaari Proposal), as well as support Kosova's European integration. Only 4% of Kosovar citizens have declared that the mandate and purpose of the ICO in Kosova is monitoring and supervision of implementation of the Ahtisaari Proposal, whereas less than 1% have said that this mission has to do with European integration. Furthermore, around 15% have declared that the mandate of ICO has to deal with justice and courts in Kosova, which in fact is one of the mandates of EULEX. Undoubtedly these results reveal that there is an urgent need for a clarification of the mandate of international organizations in front of Kosovar citizens.

Voting Preferences

The number of Kosovar citizens that would not like to vote for any political party and the number of those who are undecided continues to remain quite high this year as well (32%), on the eve of local elections that will be held on November 15, 2009.

In this respect, Kosovar political parties have a lot of work to do in gaining the trust of one third of citizens, by offering them options and tangible solutions for problems they face.

On the other hand, our of those that are decided who they will vote for at the national level, PDK continues to keep its position as the biggest party in the country, although it has marked a fall from 43% to 38% compared to November last year. LDK, AAK and LDD have kept the same number of voters since last year, 27%, 18% and 5% respectively, whereas AKR has marked an increase from 3% to 8%. Other parties such as ORA, PD and PSD remain with 1% each.

Note:

The survey was conducted by Index Kosova with 1,004 respondents; citizens of Kosova (without Serbs) aged 18+ years. The survey was conducted in the field at the end of May and beginning of June 2009, whereas the margin of error for this sample is ±3.1%.