Kosovo election monitors confirm Thaci victory

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The opposition Democratic Party of ex-guerrilla Hashim Thaci won Kosovo's parliamentary election, election monitors confirmed today.

With votes from 90 per cent of polling stations counted, the Democracy in Action group said Thaci's PDK was leading with 34 percent, beating the once-dominant Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) into second place with 22 percent.

The result of yesterday's election confirmed the collapse of the LDK vote from 45 percent in 2004. It put Thaci in a position to lead what is expected to be a PDK-LDK grand coalition into a showdown with Serbia over the Albanian majority's demand for independence.

REUTERS PY VC2217