[ALBSA-Info] U.N. Sets Kosovo Vote for Nov. 17

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

U.N. Sets Kosovo Vote for Nov. 17

By FISNIK ABRASHI

  
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Setting a date for Kosovo's first general 
elections under Western auspices, the province's top U.N. administrator urged 
ethnic Albanians and Serbs to vote in the historic ballot. 

The Nov. 17 vote to elect an Assembly that will choose a president will give 
Kosovo's people ``a chance to influence their lives,'' Hans Haekkerup, head 
of the U.N. mission in Kosovo, said in a TV broadcast. 

``This means that you, the people now - for the first time in your history - 
will be able to decide upon day-to-day affairs in Kosovo,'' he said. 

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when the 
Western alliance launched a bombing campaign to force former Yugoslav 
President Slobodan Milosevic to halt attacks on ethnic Albanians. 

Since then, setting up elections has been one of the province's most 
difficult decisions, in part because Kosovo's Serbs fear the vote will push 
the province further from Belgrade's orbit, giving it the status of an 
independent state. 

Haekkerup urged the province's Serbs, who boycotted last year's municipal 
elections, to vote, warning that minority communities ``will marginalize 
themselves'' if they stay away. 

Yugoslavia's president, Vojislav Kostunica, was supportive but ``did not 
commit himself'' to participate, Haekkerup said. 

Tens of thousands of Serbs, fearful of revenge attacks, have fled Kosovo 
since NATO took over. Haekkerup offered a provision that would permit them to 
vote in Serbia proper, but the mechanics of arranging the balloting has not 
yet been created. 

Under the plan for a constitutional and governmental framework, Kosovo - a 
province of Serbia - will be governed by a president, prime minister and 
120-member Assembly. 

All but 20 Assembly representatives will be elected by direct vote. Ten seats 
are reserved for Kosovo's Serbs, and other 10 for other ethnic minorities. 

The Assembly will choose a president. The president, in turn, will select a 
prime minister. Haekkerup, however, would have the right to reject any decis
ion or law passed by the new leaders. 

U.N. officials and NATO-led peacekeepers will retain control over the 
judiciary and law enforcement 

``We will still be here and still have a role,'' Haekkerup said. ``But we 
will take a step back.''