Kosovo elections face major hurdles

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-15-2007 08:43

A Kosovo Albanian worker sets up a giant banner advertising the main Kosovo Albanian political party (LDK) in Kosovo's capital Pristina Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Kosovo will hold parliamentary and local elections Saturday. This follows massive talks with Belgrade on the future status of the province.

Some uncertainties still linger over Albanians' drive for independence from Serbia and Kosovo Serbs' likely boycott of the elections.

The election for the 120-seat Kosovo parliament is the third since the NATO-led war in 1999.

Under the mediation of the UN organized troika the US, Russia and the EU, negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo on the status of the province have never ended.

Kosovo's Albanians want independence from Serbia. Last-ditch negotiations between Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians have shown no sign of producing a deal on the fate of the UN-run territory.

Ex-guerrilla commander Hashim Thaci and his opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo enjoy a narrow lead in opinion polls. He has campaigned with promises to tackle the 60 percent unemployment rate, minimal foreign investment and rampant corruption - if they could only get statehood.

Reluctant to give legitimacy to a parliament threatening to declare independence, Serb leaders in Belgrade and the influential Orthodox Church have told Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs to again boycott the elections, both to the central parliament and local municipalities.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei