What citizens expect from local elections

About 56% of citizens surveyed have indicated that their vote will not differ from that of the June 11th parliamentary elections, while 14% have claimed they will vote differently on October 22nd.

These are some of the statistics of a report conducted in 38 Kosovo municipalities by the GAP Institute.

Berat Thaqi, policy analyst at the GAP Institute, introducing the findings of the poll, said the results show that over 70% of citizens are keen to believe that the October 22nd local elections will bring positive changes to their families and the community they live in. But only 7% of respondents are fully convinced that positive changes will take place after local elections.

“About 56% of citizens surveyed have indicated that their vote will not differ from that of the June 11th parliamentary elections, while 14% have claimed they will vote differently on October 22nd. Meanwhile, about 7% of respondents have claimed they would not vote at all in this election. As for the question of what citizens take for the basis of deciding which candidate they will vote for mayor/communal, most respondents have responded to being based on the candidate/person's programme and promises, but also on his experience and education. Poll results show voters favour new candidates more. The programme, school training and political experience are also the main factors affecting citizens' vote, as well as the municipal assembly”, he has said.

Blend Haysa, an researcher at the GAP Institute, stressed that from a further review of respondents' responses to their age, it is noted that 71% of those who will vote for the mayoral candidate coming from the same party they voted for on June 11th are 18-44, where they dominate the 25-34 youth category.

The results show that, in general, voters do not prefer to vote on one of the other ethnicities, no matter how much they prepare for it. The surveyed citizens, who have more contact with members of other communities, such as Prizren and Mitrovica, are more inclined to vote for candidates of other ethnicities. Also, respondents from the Bosniak, Serbian and Albanian communities are more rejecters of other ethnic candidates than respondents from Egyptian, Roma or Gorani”, he has said.

The outlook is made by UBO Consulting, with what cases have been polled 1,065 Kosovo citizens -- Albanian (818), Serbian (150) and members of other communities (97). This research has not been aimed at identifying citizens' trends about which political subject they will vote for. /Kosovo priss