OFFICIAL RESULTS OF KOSOVO ELECTIONS ISSUED

PRISTINA, Nov 19 (Hina) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Monday issued official incomplete results of Saturday's parliamentary elections in Kosovo, at which Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic Alliance of Kosovo won 46.29 percent of votes. The results issued by the OSCE are founded on 92 percent of ballots counted. OSCE Mission chief Daan Everts said the final results would be issued by the end of the week at the latest, but they would not differ by much from the ones issued today. The second largest party by the number of votes is Hashim Taqi's Democratic Party of Kosovo with 25.54 percent. Despite the good result, the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo still received a smaller number of votes that at last year's municipal elections when it received 58 percent of votes. Rugova will thus have to find coalition partners to help him achieve ten more seats in parliament to secure a more than 50 percent majority. The new Kosovo parliament will consist of 120 MPs. Third in place is the Serb coalition "Povratak" (Return) which won 10.96 percent of votes, securing a little over 20 seats, of which ten were previously reserved for the Serb minority. Ten more have been reserved for other minorities. The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo headed by Ramush Haradinaj won 7.82 percent of votes. Six other parties and coalitions received one percent of votes each, enough to win seats in parliament. These include the Bosniak coalition "Vatan", the National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo, the Turkish National Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Party of Justice and the National Kosovo Movement. The rest 16 political formations received a total of four percent of votes. Sixty-four percent of the electorate voted. The parliament should be constituted 30 days after the elections after which MPs should elect the president of Kosovo who will in turn, appoint a premier designate. (hina) lml sb