THE TIMES (London)
SATURDAY OCTOBER 28 2000

THE BALKANS

Kosovo election puts peace troops on
alert

FROM JOHN PHILLIPS IN PRISTINA

KOSOVO'S ethnic Albanians vote today in the war-torn
province's first democratic elections.

The party led by Ibrahim Rugova, a moderate separatist
intellectual, is expected to win, setting the stage for potential
violence by his hardline opponents.

British Royal Marine peace-keeping troops stepped up patrols in
the bomb-scarred streets of Pristina, the provincial capital, to
provide security for electors as an emotional 45-day campaign for
the polls to elect councillors in 30 municipalities ended yesterday.

The run-up to the contest in which 5,441 candidates are
competing for 920 assembly seats has been peaceful but tension in
the province is expected to escalate if Mr Rugova's Democratic
League of Kosovo (LDK) defeats the Democratic Party of
Kosovo (PDK) led by Hashim Thaci, the 31-year-old former
Kosovo Liberation Army strongman.

Mr Thaci's supporters dominate the local governments appointed
by the UN interim administration that have run the province since
the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia.

"Thaci is savvy enough to accept the outcome of the vote and grin
and bear it but some of his guys at the local level will not be
prepared to relinquish power lock, stock and barrel," a Western
diplomat said. "It won't be like John Major leaving Downing
Street quietly and going to watch cricket at the Oval."

Both main parties contesting the election call for Kosovo to
become an independent state, but Mr Rugova's party will
probably draw the majority of votes from many of the 901,000
registered voters because of his aristocratic background - from a
family that ruled much of central Kosovo for generations -
diplomatic sources say.

Kosovo newspapers supporting Mr Thaci have sought to
demonise Mr Rugova for his alleged weakness toward Belgrade,
including his appearance in a mysterious television film with
Slobodan Milosevic as Serb forces shelled Albanians from their
homes.

Mr Thaci closed his campaign with a show of strength in Pristina
on Thursday night by presiding over a rally of 30,000 supporters
in the city's main sports stadium. Mr Thaci told the throng that
sudden democratic change in Belgrade would not derail Kosovo's
bid for independence and gave a warning that Vojislav Kostunica,
the new democratic leader of Yugoslavia, could sponsor Serb
nationalist efforts to reclaim the province.

But Mr Rugova, as the head of the party that originated Kosovo's
statehood claim, remains the most widely trusted figure in the
region, Balkan experts say. Mr Rugova's LDK is expected to win
more than half of the vote while Mr Thaci's PDK is expected to
win between 25 and 30 per cent.

All but a few hundred of Kosovo's minority Serbs are boycotting
the elections. Most of Kosovo's Albanian majority see the
elections as a step on the road to statehood, an idea that goes far
beyond the UN mandate under which the poll was arranged.

Britain's 3,000 troops in Kosovo have been reinforced by an
extra battalion to be held in reserve in case trouble breaks out.
"We appreciate that there is the possibility that the situation could
become enflamed," Lieutenant Nick Mansfield, a KFOR press
officer, said. "The situation is calm but unpredictable," an officer
from the Finnish contingent protecting many of Kosovo's Serb
enclaves added.

Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd.