Kosovars began voting in their first parliamentary election as citizens of an independent country today with both the Albanian majority and Serb minority eager to see the new leaders lift them out of poverty.
Caretaker Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's PDK party is seen leading by a small margin its former coalition ally, the right-wing LDK. Both campaigned on promises to launch an economic recovery, bring down unemployment from 48 percent and fight corruption.
However, ethnic Serbs in the divided town of Mitrovica are boycotting the election, showing lingering tensions from Kosovo's breakaway from Serbia. Nine Serb parties were running for parliament elsewhere and their Serb voters had come out to cast ballots.
The European Union and the United States view the snap election as a test of Kosovo's democratic maturity. A free and fair vote is a condition for eventual membership in the EU.
"Today, Kosovo votes for a European future, for a European Kosovo, for visa
liberalisation, for Kosovo as a NATO member, for integration in the EU and the United Nations," Mr Thaci said after casting his vote in Pristina.
His rival Isa Mustafa, Mayor of Pristina and newly-elected head of the LDK, founded by late pacifist leader Ibrahim Rugova, said the day was important for "democracy and governance."
"I believe that these elections will be successful and all of us will be happy with the outcome," Mr Mustafa added.
Their coalition, which led Kosovo when it declared independence from Serbia in 2008, collapsed after president Fatmir Sejdiu resigned at a time when the European Union rule of law mission raided ministries in its anti-corruption drive.
The new government, most likely a coalition of more than two parties, will need to keep up efforts to get Kosovo recognised as a state by more than the current 72 United Nations members and sit for talks with Serbia on practical issues.
Foreign observers were in Pristina and will give their final evaluation tomorrow.
