Exit polls see PM's party leading in Kosovo election

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's party was ahead in Sunday's parliamentary election according to early exit polls by an independent NGO, which put the Democratic Party of Kosovo at six per cent ahead of its former coalition partners.

By Laurent ROUY in pristina, Kosovo (video)
News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's PDK party was set to win in Sunday's election in Kosovo, according to exit polls released after its first general election since independence ended calmly on Sunday.

"The PDK leads by six percentage points. Our polls sees the PDK gaining 31 percent while LDK has 25 percent," Shkelzen Maliqi, head of the Gani Bobi pollsters, said about a survey of more than 2,000 voters who had declared their vote.

The results mean Thaci [pictured] would next turn to negotiate backing from smaller parties that have won supporters away from both the PDK and the LDK. The LDK was the main minority coalition partner in the outgoing government.

"Even among the EU member states five countries still don't recognise Kosovo"

By Christophe ROBEET in Pristina, Kosovo

Both leading parties seek EU and NATO membership for Kosovo, continued privatisation of state enterprises, and talks with Serbia, but have given few concrete details about their programmes to boost one of the poorest economies in Europe.

In the last national election in 2007, the PDK won 34.3 percent of the vote, the LDK 22.6 percent.

Turnout was higher than the previous elections, Maliqi said, without giving a precise figure. A higher turnout might reflect eagerness for change that could cut support for the ruling party, analysts say.

Test of democracy

The European Union and the United States view the snap election as a test of Kosovo's democratic maturity, and a free and fair vote is a condition for eventual membership in the EU.

A Western election observers' mission led by a European Parliament team was to hold a news conference on Monday.

Timeline of key events in Kosovo history

1389: The battle of Kosovo that leads to 500-years of Turkish Ottoman rule. This war prompted the mass exodus of Christian Serbs which was referenced by 20th Serbian leaders as the 1990s Yugoslav war began.

1912: Serbia regains control of Kosovo from the Turks.

1946: Kosovo becomes is absorbed into the Yugoslav federation.

1974: Yogoslavia's constitution grants Kosovo de-facto autonomy

1989: Yugoslav President Slobodon Milosevic reverses autonomy approved in the 1974 constitution.

1992: War erupts in the Balkans.

1998: Serbia launches full assault on Kosovar rebels amid ultimatums from NATO to cease hostilities.

1999: Serbian forces withdraw from Kosovo after weeks of heavy air attack from NATO forces.

2008: Kosovo declares independence

"I consider the voting process a success," said Valdete Daka, the head of the Central Election Commission. "There have been technical hitches that have not hurt the process."

However, ethnic Serbs in the divided town of Mitrovica boycotted the election, showing lingering tensions from Kosovo's breakaway from Serbia. Nine Serb parties ran and their voters elsewhere in Kosovo went out to cast ballots.

"These elections were organised by a state that does not exist for me and this is the reason why I don't vote," said Dragan Vukosavljevic, a Serb in the northern town of Mitrovica.

Police arrested two from a group of 40 Kosovo Serbs in northern Kosovo who protested against the presence of mobile voting booths on the back of trucks.

Serbs offered a different picture in Gracanica, a village close to Pristina. The Serb, the European Union and the U.S. flags -- the latter a target of Serb hate in the past -- hung in front of the town hall. The voting station was packed.

"Everything is going well. People are coming to vote, approximately half of them have come," Dejan Velic, 32, an unemployed Serb father of three, told Reuters, in the afternoon.

Many Albanians interviewed outside polling stations said they hoped for change. With independence now shelved, Albanians were less reverential about their leaders.

"I would like to see more courageous leaders who keep their word," said Fatime Sheremeti, 47.