KOSOVO: Most Serbs in troubled Kosovo look likely to heed their leaders' calls to boycott today's parliamentary elections, dealing a blow to international efforts to forge a multi-ethnic future for the Albanian-dominated province.
Serbia's nationalist Prime Minister, Mr Vojislav Kostunica, and the influential Serbian Orthodox Church have encouraged their countrymen to stay away from the poll, citing security fears and the suspicion that it is a stepping stone to independence from Belgrade.
"These elections are organised by the ethnic Albanian institutions," said Mr Milan Ivanovic, a pro-boycott Serb leader.
"They need co-operative Serbs who will sign and accept everything they want, and they want an independent state."
The United Nations and NATO have run Kosovo since 1999, after 78 days of bombing by the military alliance ended a Serb crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians and forced then president Mr Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his forces.
Since then, the Serb population has dwindled to around 100,000 people - a third of its pre-war population - and they complain of a lack of protection from Albanian radicals, rampant unemployment and dismal living conditions in their isolated communities.
NATO has increased its Kfor peacekeeping presence to 19,000 soldiers ahead of the elections, fearing a repeat of vicious riots in March that left 19 people dead, thousands of Serbs homeless and several medieval Serbian Orthodox churches in ruins.
"Kfor will play its full part in maintaining a peaceful environment and NATO has deployed additional resources in Kosovo and the region to demonstrate our capacity and resolve," NATO Secretary General Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday.
"I also appeal to all to carry out this election in a peaceful manner.
"The conduct of these elections will be closely scrutinised by the international community."
The United Nations also backed the vote, along with the EU and moderate Serbs like President Boris Tadic.
"I urge members of the Kosovo Serb community to participate in the election, and in this way to ensure that their interests and concerns are represented and promoted within Kosovo's provisional institutions," said UN Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan.