Kosovo Voting Underway

Voters in Kosovo were casting their ballots on Sunday in an early general election for the new 120-seat parliament. At stake are thorny issues of the border demarcation deal with Montenegro that brought down the previous government and the approval of another deal with Serbia giving more rights to the ethnic Serb minority. The continuation of fraught talks with Belgrade, which denies Kosovo’s existence as a state, is also a key concern. Nineteen political parties, five coalitions and two citizens’ initiatives, all promising to secure economic growth and ease Kosovars’ travel restrictions to the European Union, have nominated candidates, ABC  News reported. Among the contenders are a coalition of three major parties run by former rebel commanders. They have proposed Ramush Haradinaj, still regarded by Serbia as a war criminal, as prime minister. Others include Prime Minister Isa Mustafa’s party, which nominates former finance Minister, Avdullah Hoti, for leadership, and the Self-Determination Movement, the biggest opposition party to shun pre-election coalitions, which put forward their founder Albin Kurti as a candidate for prime minister. Caption: Supporters of the opposition party ‘Self determination’ during an electoral rally in Pristina, Kosovo June 9.