Kosovo moderate wins landslide victory

Victor: Rugova will now press for independence

Kosovo's moderate ethnic Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova, has won a landslide victory in the province's local elections, according to the first official results.

Preliminary figures released on Monday after nearly all the votes had been counted gave Mr Rugova's Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) 58% of the vote.

His main rival, the harder-line Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) led by the former rebel commander Hashim Thaci, polled only 27%.

Beaten: Ex-rebel commander Thaci

The results, based on 90% of the votes cast, were released by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which organised the poll. They were broadly in line with forecasts.

Mr Rugova's triumph caps a decade-long campaign of peaceful resistance to Slobodan Milosevic, and will be seen as a spectacular comeback.

In contrast, Mr Thaci took up arms as a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the now-disbanded rebel group which spawned the PDK and dominated Kosovo politics after Nato ended its campaign of airstrikes.

Mr Rugova has already made clear he will press ahead with demands for Kosovo's independence.

Fraud claims

He has asked France, the UK, Germany and the US to recognise his country as an independent state.

He has also stressed that he is committed to co-operation with the Serb and other ethnic minorities in Kosovo.

The PDK has accused the LDK of intimidating its supporters and preventing others from voting.

Polling stations were overwhelmed by the number of voters

It also says the polling staff employed by the UN have manipulated the vote.

The OSCE says it is investigating the allegations of fraud.

Yugoslavia has not recognised the local elections, which were boycotted by almost all the Serbs in Kosovo.

The new Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, said the election results would "significantly contribute to the legalisation of a mono-ethnic society" in Kosovo.

Independence 'boost'

Mr Rugova's campaign for independence may have received an early boost, according to UK press reports on Monday.

The reports, quoting an unnamed senior US Government official, said the idea of supporting full independence for Kosovo had been discussed in secret talks by senior US officials.

An existing UN Security Council resolution states the "commitment of all member states to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)".