PRISTINA, Serbia - Kosovo's parliament elected a former rebel leader as prime minister Wednesday, a vote foreshadowing a declaration of independence from Serbia.
Legislators voted 85-22 to make Hashim Thaci head of the coalition government.
Both the U.S. and key European governments support independence for Kosovo, but it is fiercely opposed by Serbia and Russia.
"Our aim is to make Kosovo independent in the first part of this year,'' Thaci told the legislators. "We will make our dream and our right come true soon ... Kosovo will be independent.''
Kosovo, though legally part of Serbia, has been under UN and NATO control since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a Serb crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.
International envoys last year failed to resolve the issue of whether Kosovo should become independent or remain part of Serbia. Russia has previously threatened to veto any UN Security Council measure that allows Kosovo to become a state.
Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo, which won the most votes in November elections, will govern alongside its main opponent, President Fatmir Sejdiu's Democratic League of Kosovo.
On Wednesday, Sejdiu was re-elected to his post as president, winning over an opposition candidate in the third round of the secret vote requiring a simple majority.
Both parties support statehood for the province, whose population is more than 90 per cent ethnic Albanian. Jointly, the parties will hold 62 seats in the province's 120-seat assembly.
Thaci's party will control seven out of 15 ministries, including finance, economy, energy and education.
Sejdiu _ who took over the Democratic League of Kosovo after the death two years ago of Kosovo's first president, Ibrahim Rugova _ will keep his post as the province's president. His party colleagues will run five ministries, including justice and health.
Minority ethnic Serbian parties would run the social welfare ministry and the department dealing with the return of ethnic Serbian refugees who fled Kosovo after the 1998-1999 war.
