PRISTINA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Kosovo holds its first parliamentary election on Sunday since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008. [ID:nBYT943255]
Following are brief profiles of the main parties vying for power and the seats they are seeking in parliament. Opinion polls suggest no single party will win enough votes to form a government alone.
* VOTING
Kosovars will vote for 120 members of parliament from 26 political parties and three movements. Eight parties are from the Albanian majority, nine from the Serb minority and the rest from other ethnic groups.
* RESERVED SEATS
The Kosovo Constitution stipulates that 20 seats are reserved for minorities -- 10 for Serbs, the biggest minority, and 10 for others. The threshold for political parties to enter parliament is five percent of the vote.
MAIN PARTIES
* DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF KOSOVO (PDK), led by Hashim Thaci
The PDK was the main party to emerge from the ethnic Albanian guerrilla units that battled Serbian forces in 1998-99. Thaci led the Kosovo delegation at the Rambouillet talks in France ahead of NATO's 1999 air war that halted Serbia's military crackdown. The PDK won the 2007 general elections and he became prime minister in January 2008. Polls show that his party will again win most of the votes.
* DEMOCRATIC LEAGUE OF KOSOVO (LDK), led by Isa Mustafa
Founded by Kosovo's pacifist president Ibrahim Rugova, the LDK dominated the drive for independence through the 1990s, before passive resistance gave way to guerrilla conflict. It has split into rival factions since Rugova's death in 2006, when Fatmir Sejdiu, who recently resigned as Kosovo's president, took over. Polls suggest it will again remain the second party.
* SELF-DETERMINATION, led by Albin Kurti
Kurti led a nationalist student movement and mass protests against Serbian rule in the late 1990s. He was arrested by Serbian forces during the 1998-99 conflict and by Kosovo and U.N. police after it in connection with violent unrest. His party wants to reduce international controls over Kosovo and the unification of Kosovo and Albania. Polls suggest Kurti's movement will finish third.
* NEW KOSOVO ALLIANCE (AKR), led by Behgjet Pacolli
AKR founder Behgjet Pacolli is a Kosovo-born, Swiss-based construction millionaire. His party has a technocratic programme promising investment and jobs for Kosovo's many poor. Known as the man who renovated the Kremlin, Pacolli, 56, appears untarnished by his close business ties with Russia, which backs Serbia in opposing Kosovo's independence.
* ALLIANCE FOR THE FUTURE OF KOSOVO (AAK), led by Ramush Haradinaj
Haradinaj is a former guerrilla commander on trial for war crimes at the U.N. tribunal in The Hague. He was prime minister for 100 days until he resigned in March 2005 when he was first indicted by the tribunal. The AAK has since struggled to make an impact in Kosovo politics. Haradinaj heads the party's list of candidates, but his trial is expected to resume in early 2011.
* VOTING HOURS
7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
* NUMBER OF VOTERS
More than 1.6 million.
* ELECTION OBSERVERS
There will be around 32,000 observers, including 840 foreigners. (Compiled by Fatos Bytyci; editing by Benet Koleka and Mark Heinrich) (fatos.bytyci@thomsonreuters.com))
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
