Kosovo Serbs return to polls in flashpoint town

[YahooNews]

Kosovska Mitrovica (Undefined) (AFP) - Polls opened in Kosovo's flashpoint town on Sunday where ethnic Serbs were set to cast ballots under heavy security after previous elections were annulled due to violence. Voting for local mayors and councillors will be repeated at three polling stations in the Serb-populated part of the ethnically divided town Kosovska Mitrovica after masked Serbian extremists destroyed ballot boxes during the previous election on November 3. The vote is seen as a crucial bellwether of ties between Serbia and Kosovo and authorities on both sides hoped that a peaceful and successful election would boost their hopes of joining the European Union. Police and NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo (KFOR) were deployed in numbers close to polling stations on Sunday.