Kosovo Parliament Puts Off Presidential Vote Till Next Session

Kosovo's new legislature, set up a month ago, gathered for its second session Thursday, but again failed to elect a president for that Yugoslav province. Of the 118 MPs attending the session, as few as 49 supported the candidacy of the ethnic Albanian politician Ibrahim Rugova, whose Democratic League of Kosovo party had won the November 17 parliamentary elections. Only 70 percent of the MPs took part in the vote by secret ballot. The remaining 30 percent boycotted the voting. Among the boycott participants were 22 members of the Serb Coalition Return. They notified beforehand that they would take ballots, but would abstain from voting. The date for the next session of Kosovo's legislative assembly has not yet been fixed.