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Polls Open in Closely Watched Kosovo Elections


A woman votes at a polling station in the northern Serb-dominated part of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Nov 3, 2013.
A woman votes at a polling station in the northern Serb-dominated part of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Nov 3, 2013.
Voting is under way in Kosovo for local elections that could go a long way toward determining the fate of neighboring Serbia's entry into the European Union, as well as Kosovo's own membership bid.

Sunday's elections for mayors and council members across the Balkan country are the result of an agreement brokered by the EU between Serbia and its former territory.

Belgrade has urged Serbs living in northern Kosovo to participate in the election, but Serbian hardliners who oppose Kosovo's independence have called on fellow Serbs to boycott the elections.

A Serbian mayoral candidate in the northern Serbian stronghold of Mitrovica was slightly injured Friday when he was attacked by two masked men.

The ethnic Albanian-controlled Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a decade after it split from Serbia. The split triggered a bloody year-long conflict between Serbian and Albanian forces.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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