Photo By Maj. Kevin Sandell | Sgt. Lux Duran (bottom left) and Pfc. Desaree Greene (right), are two Soldiers...... read more read more
Subscribe
FERIZAJ, Kosovo - With over 110,000 citizens in the municipality and 32 diverse election polling sites, the city of Ferizaj played a substantial role in Kosovo’s parliamentary elections, June 8. A small liaison mentoring team, comprised of 10 U.S. Soldiers from Kosovo Force’s Multinational Battle Group-East, were charged with providing over watch and mentorship to the Kosovo Police maintaining security during the citywide voting.
For 1st Lt. Andrew Tkac, the local LMT officer in charge, the path enabling the historic vote began uneasily, but required collaboration among the institutions in Kosovo, its police division and NATO’s Kosovo Force. Tkac and his team were ready at 5 a.m. that day to certify the ballots were safely distributed to the city’s various polling sites, while also ensuring the police were providing security.
“I had to observe the distribution of ballots to all the polling centers which went flawlessly,” Tkac said. “Every single convoy was escorted by Ferizaj, Kosovo Police to all the polling centers, and we observed the polling centers making sure the appropriate security measures were in place.”
Serving in a dual-hatted role, the LMT not only monitored the security of Ferizaj’s polling sites, but also gained opinions and concerns from local citizens regarding the electoral process.
Sgt. Brendan Pinkham, a LMT Soldier in Ferizaj, said the team’s contributions to promoting a professional election day led to an equal opportunity for all to vote.
“We’re visiting all the polling centers, there’s 32 of them, and we’re just trying to make sure everything is good and all the people are having an opportunity to get out and vote; no one’s trying to stop them and prevent them from casting a vote,” Pinkham said. “We’re going to feel the pulse of Kosovo and try to get out there and make sure everyone has an opportunity to vote; so we’re going to be visiting a lot of polling sites and basically trying to get the atmospherics of the region.”
Longstanding ethnic tensions among Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo Serbians and minority groups had caused anxiety in previous electoral votes, so ensuring this year’s parliamentary elections went smoothly was the key facet for Kosovo Force.
Due in large part to the successful security plan laid out by the Kosovo Police, KFOR and MNBG-E, the region’s voting went off without a major incident, and 43 percent of eligible voters participated in the elections, according to Kosovo’s Central Election Commission.
The commander of Kosovo Force, Italian army Maj. Gen. Salvatore Farina, credited the successful voting to citizens’ sense of civic duty along with security efforts by all involved.
"The peaceful mood in which the elections were held demonstrates, once again, the democratic maturity and sense of civic duty which animates all the people of Kosovo and the high degree of efficiency and professionalism of the Kosovo Police,” Farina said. “The large participation of citizens of different ethnic groups and minorities are a clear manifestation of the democratic spirit which distinguishes the citizens of this part of the Balkans."
Col. Charles Hensley, commander of Multinational Battle Group-East, said the battle group’s conviction in the Kosovo Police was proven throughout the planning process and on the official Election Day.
“MNBG-East has the challenge of remaining vigilant in Kosovo, and our confidence in the Kosovo Police has been proven by their abilities in handling any problem and keeping the elections as incident free as possible to allow the citizens of Kosovo an open avenue for a free election process,” Hensley said.
Tkac compared the day’s successes to a game of professional baseball, with steps taken to achieve playing in the game’s ultimate championship, the World Series. The elections held June 8, Tkac said, equated to a “pennant game” - while still a remarkable achievement, work still needs to be done to clench the victory of holding elections without outside assistance.
“You have a free Kosovo doing a democratic election, where they’re free to go ahead and do it. Where I see where the “World Series” will be, is when they are able to do their own elections free and democratically without any threats to a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement, and without the presence of KFOR, the United States or any other NATO allies,” Tkac said.
“Today is still an accomplishment, just like winning the pennant is still an accomplishment. It’s not the World Series. Whatever happens today, as long as it goes peaceful, they’ve won the pennant, they’ve done the good thing and they’re almost there. Once Kosovo has said, ‘We’re secure and we’re able to self-sustain and we’re able to continue our democratic body and governing, and don’t need outside help, that’s when I think they’ll win the ‘World Series,’” Tkac continued.
| Date Taken: | 06.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.10.2014 06:09 |
| Story ID: | 132636 |
| Location: | FERIZAJ, ZZ |
| Web Views: | 270 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, MNBG-E’s Liaison Monitoring Teams help secure elections for Kosovo, by Maj. Kevin Sandell, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
