Kosovans distanced from Serb poll

By Nicholas Walton
BBC News, Pristina

Ethnic Albanian students scuffle with police during a protest in Pristina

In unseasonably warm sunshine on Pristina's Mother Teresa Boulevard, a group of students staged a protest against delays to Kosovan independence.

The demonstration was underwhelming but the international press corps, in town to follow the Serbian elections, pounced on it, surrounding the students with television cameras and microphones.

In truth many in the press corps were bored and looking for something, anything, to photograph or write about.

Kosovo is still technically a province of Serbia, but in most of the country the clear impression is that Serbia's elections were taking place in a completely different country.

Kosovo has been under international administration since 1999. Shortly after these elections it is expected the international community will come to some sort of decision on its final status.

'Irrelevant' elections

For most people here, there is little doubt that this will be anything other than some form of independence.

This ethnic Serb wants constructive talks with ethnic Albanians

And that meant that the 90% of Kosovans who are ethnic Albanian treated the Serbian elections as an irrelevance.

The office of Kosovan President Fatmir Sejdiu said he was unwilling to comment on the outcome of the vote as it had nothing to do with Kosovo.

One newspaper, Kosovo Sot, said Serbia and its affairs had to be treated in the same way as other foreign neighbours, such as Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The Express newspaper carried a large front page photograph of an old ethnic Serb gentleman in a traditional Chetnik cap, sporting a magnificent handlebar moustache.

The headline ran: "Serbs don't change." Inside there was another photograph of the same man, captioned: "Serbs vote for the past."

In fact I had seen the old man, a proud 86-year-old, vote in the ethnic Serb village of Gracanica, just outside Pristina. He said he was not interested in nationalist parties like the Radicals.

This type of politician, he said, was the reason why Serbia had so many troubles. The old man said he wanted to elect someone who would talk constructively with his ethnic Albanian neighbours.

Final status

Other voters had an air of defiance about them, and some still refuse to think of Kosovo as anything other than an integral part of Serbia.

But many other ethnic Serbs seem to accept that in one way or another, Kosovo will soon be independent.

Kosovan Prime Minister Agim Ceku used the aftermath of the election to appeal for a speedy resolution of the issue.

"The independence of Kosovo is a reality," he said. "There is no one single reason more to keep Kosovo as a hostage of the difficult and complicated path of Serbia."

Both the province's ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians are now united by one thing.

Whether they believe in a future for Kosovo as an essential part of Serbia or as a fully independent state in its own right, all attention is now focused on the international community's decision over its final status.

That announcement is expected to come in the next few weeks, and will have far more impact on the lives of Kosovans than the Serbian elections.