Displaced Serbs vote for Serbian list

PRISTINA - Over 9,000 Serbs voted mainly for the Serbian list in the recent Kosovo elections.

A total of 12,990 ballots arrived from central Serbia, of which around 9,500 ballots passed the second ring of examination, the Frankfurt-based Serbian language daily Vesti reported.

The ballot count was completed on Tuesday and the Kosovo Central Electoral Commission (CEC) will soon release the results. However, before CEC made the final results public, certain Albanian media issued accusations that the ballots aim to destroy the newly-formed coalition of Albanian parties headed by Ramus Haradinaj, Isa Mustafa and Fatmir Ljimaj, and the party observers announced that they would abandon CEC and refute the ballots.

The remarks voiced by observers of Albanian parties are not founded, Nenad Rikalo of Kosovo CEC told Vesti and added that their reaction added heat to the already strained atmosphere although there was no ground for this. All the votes from central Serbia had to pass three examination rings and were counted in keeping with the relevant electoral procedures, Rikalo said.

According to unofficial data, the Serbian list has the support of around 40,000 voters while the Progressive Democratic Party won slightly over 5,500 votes.