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Tuesday, October 31 3:26 AM SGT

US lauds Kosovo vote, urges Belgrade to recognize election

WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (AFP) -

The United States on Monday hailed Kosovo's weekend elections as another step
toward restoring
democracy in the province and called for authorities in Belgrade to recognize
the polls.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Saturday's vote, despite the
failure of most of
Kosovo's ethnic Serb population to participate, represented the desire of the
province for
democracy.

"We congratulate the people of Kosovo for successfully holding municipal
elections," Boucher told
reporters.

"All indications are that the elections were free and fair, that they were
conducted peacefully, without
intimidation or violence," he said.

"The vote truly represents the will for democracy of Kosovo's citizens, who
deserve praise for
turning out in such massive numbers to vote."

Boucher said the vote, in which Kosovo's ethnic Albanians appeared to have
thrown their support
behind moderate nationalist leader, Ibrahim Rugova, was a "key step" toward
implementing UN
Security Council Resolution 1244 that calls for the establishment of
province-wide institutions and
general elections to fill those posts.

"We're happy to see that," he said. "It fits with the path of democracy that's
being followed
throughout the Balkans."

Boucher stopped short of offering congratulations to Rugova, saying it was too
early to determine
the victor, but called on others, particularly the new leadership in Belgrade to
support the election
and its results whenever they are made public.

On Sunday, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica said Belgrade could not
recognize the polls as
Kosovo's 100,000-strong Serb population had not particpated.

The elections "contribute to the legalization of a mono-ethnic society that
began to form after the
Serbs and other non-Albanians left Kosovo," Kostunica said in a statement.

"The Serbs did not participate in these elections and local institutions will be
formed without their
elected representatives," he said.

Boucher would not comment on Kostunica's statement but said "generally we would
hope and
expect that people in the region would welcome the furtherance of a cause of
democracy in the
region."

"As we proceed down this road, we would hope the international community as a
whole would
welcome the establishment of democratic institutions, the holding of democratic
elections and
support the carrying out of 1244."