Kosovo finished voting in a landmark election today to give the Yugoslav province self-governing powers, two and a half years after NATO bombing ended Serb oppression of the ethnic Albanian majority.
Albanians hope the election of a 120-member legislative assembly, which in turn will choose a Kosovo president and government, marks a major step closer to independence although the United Nations will remain in overall charge.
Some members of Kosovo's Serb minority also took part in the election. Many voted elsewhere in Yugoslavia, having fled there after the NATO air war ended in June 1999 and ethnic Albanian reprisals erupted across the province.
But other Serbs stayed away from the polls, indicating their opposition to independence and a protest at their precarious living conditions. Most Serbs who have remained in Kosovo live in enclaves heavily guarded by NATO peacekeepers.
Kosovo Albanian political leaders made clear they regarded the vote as a historic day for their homeland and planned to use the new assembly to push the case for a sovereign state.
These elections are especially important because they are about the freedom and independence of Kosovo, its economic development and the prosperity of all its citizens, said veteran ethnic Albanian leader Mr Ibrahim Rugova, widely tipped to become Kosovo president, as he cast his ballot.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), plans to release partial results on Monday, but political parties and local monitoring agencies are expected to issue their own election data hours after voting ends.