Attack on PM casts shadow over Kosovo election

An attack on Prime Minister Hashim Thaci as he left a campaign rally cast a shadow over preparations for Kosovo's first election since it proclaimed independence from Serbia.

But the size of a threatened Serb boycott on Sunday could decide the success of the municipal poll that Mr Thaci has said is "the most important historic event for Kosovo" since it split from its neighbour in February 2008.

Mr Thaci's motorcade came under a hail of stones and eggs late Wednesday as he left the western town of Decani after a rally organised by his Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK).

The US embassy in Pristina voiced "distress" over the violence and called on "all political leaders, parties and activists to refrain from all violence and provocations."

General Markus Bentler, the German head of the Nato-led international peacekeeping force (KFOR), has vowed that his almost 13,000 troops would be ready to react at very short notice if needed.

More then 1.5 million people are eligible to vote in Sunday's election for mayors and local council members in 36 municipalities, including the capital Pristina. It is the first election of any kind since the ethnic-Albanian majority led the move to declare Kosovo independent last year. Nesrin Lushta of the Central Electoral Commission said that everything was ready for voting and officials were "very well aware of the importance of the first elections."

The main political concern is the expected boycott by the Serb minority who, backed by Serbia and its ally Russia, rejected independence and still consider Kosovo a Serbian province.

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu visited a Serb-populated village near the capital Pristina in a bid to call upon the minority to cast their ballots.

"I call on... the Serb community to take an active role in this process," Mr Sejdiu said at a press conference, speaking in Serbian, instead of his native Albanian.