12 April 2012
BELGRADE -- OSCE official Matteo Mecacci says the ongoing dialogue between the international community and Belgrade about the elections in Kosovo would yield an agreement.
He added that the organization could assist Serbs in claiming their right to vote in the May 6 presidential and parliamentary elections in Kosovo.
"The OSCE is not going to address the issue of recognition or non-recognition of Kosovo. The role we can play and the contribution we can offer concern the substance - to make sure that the people have the right to vote," the OSCE special coordinator for elections in Serbia said, following the Wednesday request by Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović that the OSCE offers assistance in holding of elections.
The authorities in Priština agree that the OSCE organizes parliamentary and presidential elections called by Belgrade, but also urge the OSCE to organize local elections called by Priština in the north, Priština press reported earlier.
Commenting on the OSCE's role in the election process in Serbia, Mecacci, who is on a two-day visit to Belgrade, said the body's observers would follow the election campaign, analyze both the reporting by the media and decisions delivered by the electoral commission.
"Moreover, on the election day, 50 teams comprised of members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe will tour various parts of Serbia so as to check the voting process," said Mecacci, who is currently presiding over the OSCE parliamentary Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions.
Commenting on Serbia's chairmanship over the OSCE in 2015, he said:
"Chairing such an organization will be an opportunity for Serbia to show that its politicians are responsible and capable of running international organizations, especially taking into account that the OSCE is in charge of the cooperation in the domain of security and human rights. I think that is a great opportunity for Serbia to be considered as it should be - as a part of the European family."
