OSCE OFFICIAL CALLS ON KOSOVO SERBS TO TAKE PART IN COMING ELECTION

BELGRADE, June 22 (Hina) - The head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo, Dan Everts, on Friday called on the Serb community in Kosovo to take part in the coming elections, or they would be excluded from political processes in next three years. At a news conference he held at the end of his two-day visit to Belgrade, this OSCE (Organisation for security and Cooperation in Europe) official said one of priorities in the near future would be to register Serbs who had fled Kosovo in the voters' rosters. According to some estimates, there are about 230,000 Kosovo Serbs who have sought shelter in Serbia. Everts announced that for security reasons the ballot would be organised in municipalities and towns where those internally displaced people were currently staying. He said that with the holding of the general elections set for 17 November, Kosovo would enter a key stage envisaged by the UN SC Resolution 1244 on Kosovo as a phase of the limited self-rule. He said the Kosovo parliament would have 120 seats. A hundred (100) will be given to those who win the election according to the proportional representation system. Twenty (20) seats are for representatives of national minorities, and of it 10 will be occupied by representatives of the Serb ethnic community. The Presidency of the assembly will have seven members, of whom two are Serbs. If the Presidency is not able to make a decision, the international community will mediate in the process and if necessary, the head of the UN mission in Koasovo, Everts explained. During his stay in Belgrade, he met Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic and other Serbian officials and political party leaders. (hina) ms