Kosovo votes without major trouble

Sun, 12 Dec 2010

Pristina, Kosovo - Voting went ahead in Kosovo's snap parliamentary poll Sunday without major incidents, the central election commission said in Pristina.

Just over 11 per cent of the 1.6 million registered voters had cast their ballots by 11:30 am (1030 GMT), the commission said, without providing figures for turnout comparison. Polling stations opened at 7 am and were due to close 12 hours later.

The election is the first since Kosovo, with its 90-per-cent Albanian majority, declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has been tipped to win the most votes, but is expected to fall short of an outright majority.

Pristina Mayor Mustafa Isa's Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) is also expected to do well. But two newcomer parties, the Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) and the FER (New Spirit), may stir the political scene in the former province.

Thaci lost a no-confidence vote in November, after his coalition with LDK fell apart amid squabbling over the election of the new Kosovo president and the sale of the national telecommunications firm. That triggered the elections a year ahead of their time.

A total of 29 parties are running for the parliament - 100 of the seats are up for grabs by any candidate, 10 are reserved for Serbs and 10 for representatives of other minorities.

Belgrade refuses to accept Kosovo's independence and has called its compatriots there to boycott the vote, but eight Serb parties still decided to run.

Concerns that the polarization among Serbs could spark violence in areas they dominate did not materialize in the first half of the day.

The entire election process is being closely monitored by almost 850 international and 26,000 local observers.

No officials results are expected Sunday, the election commission said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/357792,kosovo-votes-major-trouble.html.