Serbian List Power Results of Albanian Party Disputes

What will be the power of the Serbian List to achieve targets within the Kosovo institutions, following early parliamentary elections on February 14th, will depend on the division of the resorts and the composition of the future government, says Verolub Petroniq of the non-governmental organisation “Human Centre in Mitrovica”.

On March 16th, representatives of the Serbian List have met with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani's lawyer, who claims a full mandate in this position, as well as with Vetevendosje Movement leader Albin Kurti, who is the candidate of this party for prime minister of the country.

After the meeting, the Serbian List has not specified whether its deputies, who have secured the ten seats guaranteed for the Serb community in the assembly, will either vote on the government or the new president.

After meeting with Kurti and Osman, through a media report, the Serbian List has said that as the legitimate representative of the Serb community, it is <x0->fundable for consultations and talks aimed at advancing the conditions in which Serbs live in Kosovo, and that all other parties, sharing these positions, will have the Serbian List for co-operation”.

During Kurti's past rule, which lasted 50 days, the Serbian List had received a ministry guaranteed by the constitution, but it was not part of the ruling coalition.

President's Choice, Case for Impose by Serbian List

Rada Trajkovic, Serbian politician from Gracanica, has been competing for deputy under the civic initiative “for freedom”, but has failed to become MP. She tells Radio Free Europe that Serbian List efforts to increase its political influence on Kosovo institutions are seen just during the elections. This has been confirmed, as she says, with the election panel's decision on Anxiety and Parashta, as well as the Supreme Court, following the February 14th elections.

According to her, the Serbian List has tried to ensure that through orchestrated Serb votes in municipalities where they are majority in Kosovo, to provide mandates for MPs for political subjects of other non-communist communities, so that there will later be their playoffs in, as it calls it, “run by number”, at the time the country's president is elected. But, according to her, the power of the Serbian List could be bedecked on disputes between Albanian political subjects.

“If Albanian parties do blackmail during the election of the president of Kosovo, and if that space is used by the Serbian List, that through its vote meets several quotas for electing the president, as well as thus gaining benefits for itself, then it is a matter for Mr. Kurtin. So, will he and Mrs. Osmani accept this or move towards that with other minorities and Albanian parties find compromise on completing Kosovo institutions”, Trajkovic said.

She added that, in her opinion, it would be good and desirable to have at the helm of the country's institutions, whether in the presidency or at the head of the government, come people who have not been in power before and who cannot become blackmailed. Those, according to her, would not allow effects on political developments in Kosovo of Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, whose, as she says, “is taking over the political career”.

Petroniq: Serbian List Ready for Co-operation

Verolub Petronic of the nongovernmental organisation “Human Centre in Mitrovica”, speaking of Radio Free Europe, says that of the conversations the Serbian List has had with Kurti and Osman, details have not been specified. But according to him, in a way the Serbian List has made it known that it will not prevent the formation of the government, and it turns out that political representatives of the Serb community are not very interested in what composition the new government will have, considering that a ministerial country is guaranteed by the constitution, in case the executive has 12 dictatorships. However, according to him, as in the past, Serbian List Objection The government will continue.

The “will probably exist. But, the very fact that representatives of the Serbian List have gone to talk to Kurti and Mrs. Osmani, speaks that they are willing to co-operate as before, Petroniq said.

The only contender currently for prime minister, Albin Kurti, has earlier stressed that there will be no ruling coalition with the Serbian List. Kurti has considered this subject a protracted hand in Belgrade to officials in Kosovo.

Trajkovic: Serbian list has lost aduti blackmail

But will the Serbian List have the power to carry out its political goals, not being part of the ruling coalition with the Vetevendosje Movement?

Rada Trajkovic expresses the thought that the Serbian List would lose its influence, as well as the aduti with which it blackmailed the up-to-date governments, which were created with coalitions, that it would attract Serbs from all Kosovo institutions in the country's north, if they were not part of power.

I think that (Serbian List) should lose power and yet lose it. But, on the other hand, I think that the greatest power would be lost if Kosovo's criminal bodies were to enter into the project of verifying budget money spending in Serb majority municipalities. This would create space for several other Serbs, in perspective, in the near future, to have the chance to replace the Serbian List”, Trajkovic said.

What will be the power of the Serbian List's influence on Kosovo institutions, according to Verolub Petroniqi, remains to be seen after the government's formation.

We'll see what this looks like, because we still don't have a mirror of what the next government will look like. Only when we get to the distribution of several positions will we see how much the Serbian List has power of influence on Kosovo's political scene. The most reliable is that it will remain outside (the coalition) government. But if there are some floods, we will see this very quickly”, Petroniq stressed.

The Serbian list, which is founded and supported by official Belgrade, since its formation in 2014 and later, has firmly won the votes of the Serb community in all elections held in Kosovo, providing all 10 guaranteed seats to the Serb community in the assembly.