HEAKKERUP TO ANNOUNCE FINAL RESULTS OF NOV. 17 VOTE SATURDAY

PRISTINA, Nov 22 (Hina) - The UN Civil Administrator for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, will announce the final results of the Nov. 17 general vote on Saturday, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission, the chief organiser of the election, said on Thursday. Negotiations and contacts among political parties on a coalition government will start on the same day, OSCE Mission officials said, adding the last 5,000 ballots that arrived from abroad were being counted. The new Kosovo parliament, which has 120 seats, should be established within a month at the latest. The parliament should elect Kosovo's president in a secret vote, who is to nominate a premier designate. The new premier will organise a government of nine ministries, of which two will be headed by representatives of minorities. Although the ballot-counting has not been finished yet, it is known that no party has won enough votes to form the government on its own. Representatives of the Kosovo Democratic Alliance (DSK) of Ibrahim Rugova, which has won the largest number of votes (46%), say they will consider the possibility of forming a coalition government with the winner of the second largest vote. However, the Kosovo Democratic Party and the Alliance for Kosovo's Future have already warned they are only willing to accept joint administration and not serve as token partners. Representatives of the Serb coalition 'Povratak' (Return), the third runner-up, with some 11% of the vote and 21 seats in parliament, have not yet stated which party they see as a potential coalition partner. They did warn though that they would not take part in the vote for the Kosovo president. Analysts claim that the DSK, as the strongest party, will have to choose between two options: warming up relations with other leading Albanian parties or choosing the Serb coalition as partner. (hina) rml