Kosovo moderates win poll

Rugova: A victory for the moderates

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- A moderate party has won the first province-wide democratic elections in Kosovo.

The Democratic League of Kosovo, led by Ibrahim Rugova, recorded 45.65 percent of the vote, chief U.N. administrator Hans Haekkeruphas confirmed on Saturday

The party, identified with a non-violent campaign for independence, beat the former rebel leader Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo, which gained 25.70 percent of the vote in the November 17 elections.

A coalition of parties representing Kosovo's minority Serbs finished third with 11.34 percent, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, an ethnic Albanian party, followed with 7.83 percent.

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Voters elected legislators for a 120-seat assembly that in turn will choose a president and form a provincial administration.

Rugova now needs a minimum of 61 votes to be elected Kosovo's president.

Rugova had already claimed victory in the poll but it is expected that the official announcement will help attempt to build a coalition adminstration.

The administrators will govern alongside U.N. officials and NATO-led peacekeepers who took control of the province after 78 days of NATO airstrikes

The alliance launched the air war to force former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end his crackdown on ethnic Albanians in the province.

The inaugural session of the assembly is due to be held December 10.