- Title: Kosovo voters eye graft and deal with Serbia in election
- Date: 6th October 2019
- Summary: TRAFFIC ON STREET
- Embargoed: 20th October 2019 07:35
- Keywords: Polls opened snap parliamentary election Democratic League for Kosovo Democratic Party of Kosovo United Nations membership
- Location: PRISTINA, KOSOVO
- City: PRISTINA, KOSOVO
- Country: Kosovo
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA003AZYKLL3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Polls opened in Kosovo on Sunday (October 6) as the country voted in parliamentary elections for the fourth time since a declaration of independence in 2008.
Deep-rooted corruption and a peace deal with Serbia which would pave the way for membership of the United Nations are the chief concerns of 1.9 million eligible voters in Kosovo.
The snap elections have been called after Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj resigned in July when he was summoned to appear before a war crimes court.
Haradinaj has been questioned over his role in the 1998-99 war as one of the commanders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who fought for independence from Serbia.
Two of those parties, the Democratic League for Kosovo (LDK) and the nationalist, left-leaning Vetevendosje, are seen as front runners in Sunday's vote, along with the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the largest party in the current coalition.
Kosovo has Europe's youngest population, with an average age of 29, and has seen annual economic growth averaging 4% over the past decade, but it remains poor. Since Pristina won independence from Belgrade in 2008, more than 200,000 Kosovars have emigrated and applied for asylum in the European Union.
Polls open at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT). Preliminary official results are expected by midnight (2200 GMT).
(Production: Bardh Krasniqi) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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