Serbs shun Kosovo election

Serbs shunned an election in the UN protectorate of Kosovo yesterday, many scared off by nationalist warnings their participation would advance Albanian calls for independence.

"Obviously some decided not to vote and that's their democratic right," said UN governor Soren Jessen-Petersen. "Others obviously have had their democratic right to vote hijacked, who may have wanted to vote but were afraid."

The boycott by minority Serbs was driven by nationalist politicians in Belgrade and the hard-line Orthodox Church, who saw the second general election in the province in three years as a further loosening of its legal bonds to Serbia. On the Serb side of the divided city of Mitrovica, where youths talked loudly about what might happen to anyone who dared vote, only 15 people cast ballots in eight hours. "Are you joking?" said one man who was asked if he planned to vote. "They'd knee-cap me."

Kosovo Serbs had been given conflicting advice from a divided Serbian leadership in Belgrade. Pro-western President Boris Tadic urged them to take part while Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica advised them to stay away.

"People are so scared they're simply avoiding Mitrovica so they won't be asked if they're voting," said Serb candidate Oliver Ivanovic, a Tadic ally.

French troops brought in to beef up the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force to 20,000 from 18,000 patrolled the streets of Mitrovica, the urban centre of a northern area that is home to 35,000 Serbs, and a safe gateway to Serbia proper. To the south, at least twice as many Serbs live in scattered enclaves surrounded by Kosovo's 90 per cent Albanian majority and guarded by other NATO contingents.

In Gnjilane, where US peacekeepers patrol, a local Serb leader who opposed the boycott said very few Serbs had voted.

"People were threatened last night, some even with death. Not even (former Serb strongman Slobodan) Milosevic did this," said Slavisa Petkovic, denouncing Prime Minister Kostunica.

In the monastery town of Gracanica, home to 5,000 Serbs, only five people had cast ballots by noon, officials said. The Serbs say Albanian mob violence against them last March, when 19 people were killed and hundreds of homes burned, proved there was neither security nor will in Kosovo for the genuine multi-ethnic society sought by Western powers.

Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since three months of NATO bombing in 1999 expelled Serb forces to end what the West said was their ruthless disregard for civilian life in fighting to crush an Albanian guerrilla insurgency. Its two million people rely on aid and half are jobless.

The new 120-seat assembly will be charged with meeting UN benchmarks on rights for all ethnic groups. A good report-card in mid-2005 would lead to talks on "final status" for Kosovo. An internal UN report has warned that further delay in addressing independence aspirations risks fresh violence.

Serbs will get 10 seats regardless of the vote. But none of the four main Albanian parties looked likely to win a majority, making the probable outcome another uneasy coalition of rivals.

Sceptical voters say independence has become too easy a platform for politicians more interested in grabbing ministries - and the bribes they promise - than in forging a team to improve life pending the "final status" decision.