Secretary-General urges all Kosovo communities to exercise voting rights

 

Following is a statement attributable to the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

This Saturday, 23 October, the people of Kosovo will have the opportunity to vote for their representatives in the Assembly of Kosovo’s Provisional Institutions.

The Secretary-General calls upon members of all of Kosovo’s communities to exercise their right to vote in the elections.  He urges members of the Kosovo Serb community to participate in the election and in this way to ensure that their interests and concerns are represented and promoted within Kosovo’s provisional institutions.  Kosovo’s leaders should do their utmost to encourage Kosovo’s voters to engage in the democratic process.

The 23 October elections will be the first that are largely organized and run by the people of Kosovo themselves.  He is confident that these elections will prove to be yet another significant step in the consolidation of Kosovo’s representative and democratic provisional institutions of self-government and a further demonstration of Kosovo’s progress on the path of normalization and stability.

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