Sven Lindholm, a spokesman for the OSCE mission in Serbia's predominantly Albanian province, said that including locals, there would be a total of 30,000 observers at the polls.
He said passports dating back to the former Yugoslavia would not be accepted at polling stations, and that in order to receive a ballot, voters would have to show documents issued by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo.
The Serb National Council for northern Kosovo earlier called on all ethnic Serbs to boycott the elections, saying taking part would be "playing into the hands of Albanian separatists."
Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict between Serb forces and Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999.
