At the turn of 2008, the media started reporting that the Kosovo Albanians were determined to proclaim independence. This came at the time when the ten-year anniversary of the Kosovo War was looming (with the five-year anniversary being marked by violent unrest); the U.S. President George W. Bush was in his last year in power and not able to seek re-election; and two nations which had previously seceded from Yugoslavia were in important political positions (Slovenia presiding over the EU and Croatia an elected member of the UN Security Council). The proclamation was widely reported to have been postponed until after the 2008 Serbian presidential election, held on 20 January and 3 February, given that Kosovo was an important topic of the election campaign.