Kosovo has held its first local elections since it declared its independence from Serbia early last year. The results are expected later this evening.

Around 5000 police officers were deployed, but no major incidents have been reported. Turnout was 45 percent.

Belgrade had called on Serbs in Kosovo to boycott the poll; Belgrade regards Kosovo as a renegade province. Kosovo has an ethnic Serb population of about 120,000 out of a total of 1.5 million inhabitants. Most of the Serbs live in the north of of the country, in the border region with Serbia. The population of Kosovo is predominantly Albanian. An Albanian party had also called for a boycott, because some municipalities would fall into Serbian hands.

Photo: Kosovo elections - Flickr/A taste of Kosova