PRISHTINA, Serbia, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- In the first province-wide elections for a national assembly since it came under international administration two years ago, voters throughout Kosovo have given Ibrahim Rugova's moderate Democratic League for Kosovo (LDK) a convincing win with about 51 percent of the vote, initial exit polls showed Saturday.
According to the Kosovo Civil Initiative Association the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which brought together the former ethnic Albanian guerillas of KLA leader Hashim Thachi, received 16.2 percent of the vote. The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo of Ramush Haradinaj is third with 11 percent.
The remaining array of smaller parties together poll about 21.7 percent, the non-governmental organization reported.
Meanwhile, the Council for Human Rights reported similar results. According its polling data, the LDK received 48 percent of the vote, Thachi's PDK 26 percent, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 9 percent and the Serb coalition Povratok (Return) garnered only 8 percent.
Official results will not be released until Monday. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe oversaw the election.
If the preliminary results are confirmed, the LDK will have an absolute majority in the 120-member Parliament and its leader, Ibrahim Rugova should be the first democratically elected President of Kosovo.
However, the new government will have limited authority, as key responsibilities will remain in the hands of the U.N.-led administration of the province.
Turnout was high among ethnic Albanians, who form the majority in the province, especially in the capital, Pristina.
Election observers said turnout in the Albanian areas was at about 65 percent, while in the Serb minority enclaves it was about 45 percent.
Daan Everts, OSCE's mission chief in Kosovo, said he was pleased with the elections and that there were no significant incidents.
He said he was particularly pleased with the fairly high turnout among the Serb minority, which went to the polls heeding the call of reformist Yugoslav President Vojslav Kostunica to participate despite an active and often nasty anti-election campaign by local Serb leaders.
Last year the Serbs boycotted Kosovo's local elections, complaining of harassment by the Albanian majority.
Scattered protests did occur Saturday at several polling places when Albanian hard-liners demanded that the Albanian flag be flown outside schools and offices where voting was underway.
OSCE officials had forbidden the display of national symbols at election sites to keep Kosovo's minorities from feeling discriminated against in the 90 percent ethnic-Albanian province.
