Kosovo leaders hail elections as a success

In Belgrade, Oliver Ivanovic, a government official in charge of Kosovo, said Serbian officials should be worried by the vote.

Kosovo's prime minister claimed victory Monday in the first local elections since the territory seceded from Serbia, hailing the polls as a success after some minority Serbs ignored a boycott.

The polls for municipal councils and mayors attracted 45 percent of 1.5 million eligible voters as Kosovo sought to show it could organise free, fair and peaceful elections after it declared its independence in February 2008.

Belgrade called on Serbs to boycott the polls, but some cast ballots in parts of Kosovo. Serbia refuses to recognise the independence of Kosovo, where 90 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci praised Sunday's vote, saying that its citizens - are celebrating because the state of Kosovo has passed the test of democracy. -

- We all have risen above party and ethnic flags, uniting around the flag of Kosovo state in order to win, and we have won - Thaci told his supporters gathered at the seat of his Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK).

Thaci said his PDK won control of 20 out of 36 municipalities.

But the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) of President Fatmir Sejdiu claimed absolute victory in the capital of Pristina, home to more than 500,000 of Kosovo's population of 1.8 million, as well as some smaller municipalities.

The electoral commission has yet to announce the outcome of the polls. International observers will issue a report later Monday.

The polls were a sign that Kosovans were aware of the importance of the democratic process - and creation of a multi-ethnic Kosovo - analyst Ilir Deda told AFP.

- As a country, Kosovo has proven it is not as fragile as it is seen within the international community - Deda said.

Kosovo's independence has so far been recognised by more than 60 countries, including the United States and most European Union nations.

But Serbia, backed by Russia, is challenging the declaration at the International Court of Justice. Around 120,000 Serbs live in Kosovo.

EU parliament member Doris Pack, who led a six-member observer team, said Kosovo had reached "a certain maturity" which may convince other countries to recognise its independence.

- Perhaps some are waiting for the International court's decision.... If these had been bad elections it would not have been helpful, but I think it is - Pack said.

Serbia's Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic downplayed the impact of Serb votes. "Despite enormous pressure and manipulations, a number of Serbs who have voted is irrelevant," he said.

- All those who have taken part in the polls cannot, in any way, represent Kosovo Serbs, and the Serb community has proven it by boycotting the polls - Bogdanovic told Belgrade daily Politika.

But Kosovo's electoral officials estimated the turnout of minority Serbs in central Kosovo -- home to some 80,000 Serbs -- to be stronger than expected.

In their central Kosovo stronghold of Gracanica, more than 23 percent of 18,000 voters cast ballots, while in the southern town of Strpce, where the Serbs are the majority, 31 percent of voters participated.

But the main Serb-populated area in northern Kosovo, bordering Serbia proper, followed the boycott.

Backed by Belgrade, 40,000 Serbs in the area cut off their relations with Pristina, relying on political backing and financial infusion from Serbia.

In Belgrade, Oliver Ivanovic, a government official in charge of Kosovo, said Serbian officials should be worried by the vote.

- There is a crack between the Serbs (from central enclaves) and the Serbs in the north, but also between them and the government - in Belgrade, Ivanovic told Belgrade radio B92.

Runoffs will be held on December 13 in municipalities where mayoral candidates failed to win more than 50 percent of the votes.