An estimated 120,000 Serbs live in Kosovo, many in the four
northern districts bordering Serbia where Sunday's local polls
were being held -- an attempt to restore the local governments
after their ethnic Serb councillors resigned in November.
There
are frequent bouts of unrest in the northern enclaves, where
many ethnic Serbs have, like Belgrade, never accepted the
unilateral declaration of independence that Kosovo made from its
neighbour in 2008.
Of the 45,000 voters eligible to vote on Sunday, 95 percent
are ethnic Serbs. Belgrade is backing the boycott and pushing
for an "association of Serb councils" -- a form of autonomy for
the Serb minority in Kosovo, where the majority of the 1.8
million inhabitants are ethnic Albanian.
"I hate everyone who's taking part in these elections...
because they're accepting the Albanian state," said Milan
Bulatovic, a resident of the northern city of Mitrovica,
referring to independent Kosovo. The head of the electoral
commission, Kreshnik Radoniqi, said the 19 polling stations had
"opened as planned" on Sunday. No incidents of violence were
reported. Sunday's boycott means, in theory, that ethnic
Albanian parties could take control of the local councils in the
north. In March, Kosovo and Serbia stopped short of signing a
potentially landmark deal to normalise their relations, despite
months of shuttle diplomacy by European Union mediators.
str-ih/gil/giv
/ (ANSA-AFP).
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
