The PDK won around 34 percent of the votes while the current governing party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, got some 22 percent.

But at 43 percent, the turnout was much lower than during the previous elections three years ago when it had been over 50 percent. On top of that, the elections were largely boycotted by the province's Serbian minority, which followed calls by the Serbian government not to go to the polls.

According to analysts, the low turnout was mainly due to the bad economic situation in Kosovo and people's discontent with the DLK, the current governing party. Many Kosovars currently live below the poverty line and unemployment affects around 50 percent of the population.

The PDK is now to form a coalition government. Mr Thaci, a former leader of the political wing of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which fought Serbian forces in the 1998-1999 war, is tipped to become the prime minister.

If the two main parties do not agree on forming a coalition however, the PDK would have to rely on other small parties and talks may go on for longer than planned.

EU reaction

For its part, the EU welcomed "the fact that the elections in Kosovo (…) took place in a calm and dignified atmosphere and were conducted in line with international standards", EU high representative Javier Solana stated on Sunday (18 November).

But he also expressed concerns "about the low turnout, which reflects a widespread dissatisfaction of the population with the political elite".

In addition, both Mr Solana and EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn "regretted" the boycott of the elections by Kosovo Serbians.

The European parliament's observation delegation to Kosovo echoed these statements, while noting that "some of the shortcomings of the electoral framework and significant delays in the preparations should have been avoided by the responsible authorities of the international community".

"The international community has not met its obligation to contribute to capacity-building in the field of elections", reads a parliament statement.

Kosovo will be at the centre of talks of EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels today (19 November) and a new round of talks between Kosovars and Serbians mediated by international diplomats is to take place on Tuesday (20 November).

But analysts are rather pessismistic about the possibility of reaching a negotiated solution before 10 December, as neither the Serbian nor the Kosovar side has shown any signs of readiness for a compromise.

The Serbian breakaway province of Kosovo has been under UN administration since the end of the war in June 1999.