Polling stations opened in Kosovo on Sunday morning for parliamentary elections, the first since Kosovo declared independence in February 2008, the Agence France Presse reported.
Around 1.6 million voters, of whom 70,000 will vote for the first time, will elect 120 representatives to the parliament from 1,265 candidates on 29 lists, including seven Albanian and eight Serb lists.
Twenty seats in the parliament are reserved for ethnic minorities, including ten for 120,000 Kosovo Serbs who mostly live in enclaves in the north of the country bordering Serbia.
A total of 2,280 polling stations in 37 municipalities will be open until 7 pm.
The turnout could be crucial for these elections, in which the two likeliest winners are Kosovo's two biggest parties - the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), led by outgoing Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), led by Pristina Mayor Isa Mustafa.
The PDK and the LDK are partners in the outgoing coalition government.
The early election was called after Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu resigned in September after the Constitutional Court ruled that he had violated the constitution by not having resigned as LDK leader upon taking up office as President.
After the PDK and the LDK failed to reach an agreement on the new head of state, Parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi called new elections in his capacity as acting President.
