EU to monitor Kosovo elections
(PRISTINA) - The European Union will monitor Kosovo's local elections next month, the first polls organised in the newly declared state, the government said Wednesday.
The European Commission will send "an expert mission to assess and report on both rounds of the forthcoming local elections" set for November 15, the statement said, quoting a confirmation letter from Brussels.
Voters in Kosovo will choose mayors and deputies for local assemblies in 36 towns, including the capital Pristina.
The polls are the first since Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament unilaterally seceded from Serbia in February 2008.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was mandated with organising elections in Kosovo after it became a UN protectorate in 1999.
That followed a NATO air war against Yugoslavia that ended a crackdown by Serbian forces on the independence-seeking ethnic Albanian majority in the province.
More than 60 countries have recognised Kosovo as an independent state, including the United States and all but five members of the European Union.
Backed by its traditional ally Russia, Serbia says Kosovo's split is a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity under international law and still considers the territory as its southern province.
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