U.S. welcomes peaceful elections in Kosovo

PanARMENIAN.Net - With a 90 percent count, Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo scored 35 percent of the vote, beating the 22 percent of the Democratic League of Kosovo.



These two parties are likely to form the coalition government.



About 45 percent of the voters took part in the election boycotted by the Serb minority. RTS TV channel reported that only 5 Serbs voted in Kosovo's northern constituencies.



This is the fifth election since 1999 when Serb forces were withdrawn from the province due to NATO military interference. 25 parties, 14 of which represent non-Albanian minorities, ran for 120-seat parliament.



Ex-guerrilla Hashim Thaci, tipped to become Prime Minister of the majority ethnic Albanian province after Saturday's ballot, said parliament would declare independence immediately after a December 10 deadline for international mediation efforts.



The U.S. welcomed peaceful elections in Kosovo and criticized boycott of the Serb minority. "The U.S. regrets the decision of Kosovar Serbs to boycott the elections under Belgrade's pressure," said Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the State Department, Deutsche Welle reports.