COMMENT Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders see last weekend’s parliamentary election as a springboard for declaring independence. Ostensibly about choosing a new government, the vote was also a public act of affirmation by the troubled territory’s ethnic Albanian majority in their demands for statehood.
Hashim Thaci, the likely new prime minister, pledged to declare independence from Serbia immediately after the final round of last-ditch United Nations-sponsored efforts to reach a negotiated settlement ends on December 10.
