Kosovo Keen on Ultimate Independence

ANGUS REID CONSULTANTS (CANADA) September 26, 2005

(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Most adults in Kosovo want to achieve sovereignty, according to a poll by Index Kosova. 86 per cent of respondents support establishing an independent state within Kosovo's current borders, while eight per cent would prefer to unify with Albania.

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic is currently on trial in The Hague for sponsoring a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" which led to the deaths of thousands of Albanian residents of Kosovo, and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee to Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania.

Kosovo was established as an independent part of Serbia-which in turn is a member state of Serbia and Montenegro-under the protection of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Last October, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) won the Assembly election with 45.4 per cent of the vote and 47 lawmakers in the 100-seat legislative branch. The minority Serbs boycotted the ballot.

The LDK formed a coalition government with the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK). Former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rebel leader and AAK member Ramush Haradinaj was appointed as prime minister, but left the post in March after being indicted by the United Nations (UN) war crimes tribunal in The Hague for his alleged role in atrocities committed during the fight against Serb forces. Fellow AAK member Bajram Kosumi took over as head of government.

Earlier this month, Kosumi's political adviser Raif Gashi explained the government's position in an interview with Belgrade daily Blic, saying, "We shall get both independence and sovereignty. The people of Kosovo shall decide. The whole world is acquainted with the fact that 90 per cent of people in Kosovo want independence. There is no compromise over that issue."

Polling Data

Which of these possible choices for the final status of Kosovo would you support?

An independent state within its current borders
86%

Unification with Albania
8%

Don't know
6%

Source: Index Kosova
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews to 992 adult respondents in Kosovo, conducted from Aug. 25 to Aug. 31, 2005. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.