Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission spokesman Sven Lindholm said that the OSCE expected all political parties and candidates to focus on vital issues during the campaign, such as job creation, education and health services.
The future government and parliament will have great responsibility for improving the situation in Kosovo, the spokesman said.
The Electoral Commission said that 32 political parties, civil associations and independent candidates would run for the 100-seat Kosovo Assembly.
Serbian political parties ignored official deadlines for the nomination of their candidates, but are still expected to decide to participate in the elections in consultation with the government in Belgrade. Civil administrator Soeren Jessen Petersen has the authority to allow them to do so despite their disregard for the nomination deadlines.
The Serbian Civil Initiative, which gathers Kosovo Serbs who have found temporary residence in the southern Serbian city of Nis, was the only Serbian association to nominate its candidates for the provincial legislature in due time.