Kosovo: Elections to test EU-brokered Serbia deal

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — People in Kosovo on Sunday choose mayors and local councilors in an election that will test the country's fragile relations with Serbia as both countries seek to move closer to the European Union.

Serbia has called on Kosovo's Serb minority to participate in the vote organized by Pristina's ethnic Albanian dominated authorities.

Serb participation in Kosovo's political life, including elections, is one of the key elements of an EU-brokered deal that seeks to settle the dispute over Kosovo and unlock EU funds.

It is the first time that voters in all of Kosovo will choose local councilors and mayors since the country seceded from Serbia in 2008. Serbia rejects Kosovo's independence, as do many Kosovo Serbs. The United States and majority of the EU countries have recognized the new state.

Kosovo's prime minister said the vote is crucial for the new country.

"These are the first free elections that are organized in the entire territory of Kosovo," Hashim Thaci said after voting in a primary school in the center of the capital Pristina that serves as a polling station. "All citizens of Kosovo are participating. They are crucial for our future in Europe."

In the areas in northern Kosovo, where Serbs constitute a majority, tensions were high between Serbs boycotting the vote and those responding to Belgrade's call to participate.

"I vote for a better life because if we do not vote we cannot survive here," said Radomir Milic, a resident of Mitrovica .

Milic was one of few Serb voters to vote early on Sunday despite warnings from hard-line Serbs who fear that the vote validates Kosovo's secession.

Posters describing participation in elections as treason have sprung up in Serb-majority areas, and a number of bomb attacks have targeted Serb politicians running for office.

Some 1.8 million voters are entitled to vote in 39 municipalities and elect mayors and local councilors.

• Elections
• Politics & Government
• Serbia
• Kosovo

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kosovo-elections-test-eu-brokered-serbia-deal-113303242.html
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