Many of Kosovo's 1.8 million inhabitants blame politicians from all sides for a stubbornly high unemployment rate that hovers around one-third of workforce despite solid economic expansion of about 4 percent annually in one of the poorest countries in Europe.
A coalition led Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the leftist opposition party Vetevendosje (VV) which wants to unite all Albanians in one state are vying for second place in the vote, according to opinion polls.
A coalition led by the center-right Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) is set to come first in Sunday's parliamentary election with a win of 40% of the votes, an exit poll showed.
A coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders won the most votes Sunday in Kosovo's general election, which also saw a surge in popularity for a nationalist party, according to preliminary results.
There is the thorny issue of the border demarcation deal with Montenegro that brought down the previous government; the continuation of fraught talks with Serbia, which denies Kosovo's existence as a state; and potential war crimes trials of some senior political leaders.
Candidate for the post of prime minister from the PDK-AAK-Nisma alliance is AAK leader and former KLA commander Ramush Haradinaj, who was indicted twice for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague and was found not guilty both times. It is recognized by 114 countries, including the United States and most of the European Union members.
"My expectations are for free fair election in Kosovo", said U.S. Ambassador Greg Delawie at a polling station.
"Those who were in power should not come again, they are incriminated too much".
The new government will also have to try to strike a border demarcation deal with Montenegro, which is the last condition for the European Union to grant visa-free travel for Kosovars.
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They dug deep and found a goal out of nothing, really, so that's what it's about. "His all-round play was terrific". In a video message to the youngsters he said: "It's been a brilliant experience to follow you from afar.
Among the contenders is a coalition of three major parties run by former rebel commanders.
According to CEC, 1.87 million people are eligible to vote in a procedure monitored by around 30,000 observers, of which around 500 are from global organizations, institutions and foreign embassies. The party's members and supporters released tear gas inside parliament and threw firebombs outside it to protest the contentious deals with Montenegro and Serbia.
The EU has made the deal a prerequisite for visa liberalisation, but its opponents say it deprives Kosovo of land.
Other key priorities the next government faces include establishing better control over privatization and creating a functioning war crimes court and prosecution office, which would start the process of sidelining wartime leaders from political and public life.
The Self-Determination Movement and others also oppose another deal signed in 2015 that gave more rights to the ethnic Serb minority.
A victory for Haradinaj, however, would probably complicate relations with Serbia, which has issued an worldwide warrant for his arrest for alleged war crimes.
It seemed unlikely however that he and his allies would reach 51 seats in the 120-member parliament, a level of support that would allow them to govern in coalition with the 10 deputies representing Kosovo's non-Serb minorities, such as ethnic Turks and Roma.
Llazar Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.
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