Kosovo vote counters don protective wear after rash outbreak

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Officials counting votes from Kosovo’s Oct. 6 election are wearing protective clothing to handle ballots from neighbouring Serbia after a dozen of their colleagues were hospitalized with unexplained skin complaints.

The counting, suspended Oct. 13 for votes from Serbia due to the incident, resumed Wednesday. According to Valmir Elezi, spokesman of the Central Election Commission, the counting would be done “under protective measures.”

Kosovo authorities have not specified what caused the itching and rashes, or whether the symptoms were linked with the ballots.

Preliminary results show a left-wing party won the election. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, 9 years after NATO bombing ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

The ballots from Serbia were from Serb former Kosovo residents still registered there.