Not with options: But government gives Serbian citizens another opportunity to vote for Serbia's referendum

According to them, this is the only form through which members of the Serb community in Kosovo will vote in the referendum to be held on January 16th.

They say there will be no openings of seats in Serb-run areas inhabited.

Kosovo government offers voting opportunity

“We have offered the possibility of voting through mail or through Serbia's Interconnecting Office in Kosovo, which is also the derivatives of the agreement reached in Brussels in 2012, to open Kosovo's liaison offices in Belgrade and Serbia to Pristina”, reportedly in the written answer, which the Kosovo government has sent to Radio Free Europe.

From Serbia's Liaison Office in Kosovo, which is located at the European Union delegation building in Pristina, have not responded to Radio Free Europe calls.

On December 29th 2021, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has declared that the Government of Kosovo is aware that Serbia intends to hold a referendum in Kosovo, but that it does not agree to that.

The government of the Republic of Kosovo disagrees with such a goal, not only because this is contrary to our laws and constitution, but also because we consider previous practices applied to previous governments have also been in violation of our law and Constitution... We are against and of course, like Government, our attitude is also our”, Kurti said.

That same day, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, has reacted by saying that for failing to allow referendums to be held in Serb facilities in Kosovo, the international community will be addressed.

“A will react this way if Serbs in Kosovo stop participating in their elections or, if God has not given them, in the north to say that such elections will not be at all”, Vuciq has said.

Serbia's prime minister, Anna Brnabiq, during a meeting with the ambassadors of the Quint countries on January 6th, has expressed disappointment with the authorities' decision in Kosovo not to allow the referendum.

Hasani: Constitutional Reference Is the Issue of Sovereignty

Enver Hasani, professor of Law and International Relations at Pristina University, tells Radio Free Europe that the Government of Kosovo has the right not to allow the organisation of Serbia's referendum in Kosovo.

According to him, the constitutional sub-referendum every time is the manifestation of state and national sovereignty of a country”.

In the concrete case, according to Professor Hasani, it is about two competitive sovereigntys and, according to him, “Serbia has no right and cannot exercise sovereignty or sovereignty powers on Kosovo territory”.

For this reason, he says that despite the Serbian president's insistence, Vuciq, that he will ask the international community to pressure Kosovo to hold the January 16th referendum in Kosovo, such pressure will not happen.

I don't believe it because the constitutional referendum is the issue of sovereignty and I don't believe there are states that Kosovo can put pressure to accept. In such a case, Kosovo would submit to Serbian sovereignty and I don't believe anyone can make such pressure to allow another sovereignty to be exercised on the territory of the Republic of Kosovo”, Hasani says.

Muhariri: Decision not to influence reports with Allies

Political developments recogniser Artan Muhhaxhiri says the Kosovo government will be ahead of a huge challenge in the case of Serbia's referendum on constitutional changes in Kosovo.

It (Kosovo government) can gain much if it does not allow the referendum to be held, because for the citizens of Kosovo this will be the first time to prove that even such organisations can be prevented and can be considered a new stage in institutional reports between Kosovo and Serbia. However, one must be careful that such a decision does not negatively affect relations with the United States and the European Union”, Muhramiri says.

The US and the EU have not yet reacted to the failure to hold Serbia's referendum in Kosovo.

Muhramiri adds that Kosovo international partners have earlier reacted to Kosovo institutions, when they in some cases have downplayed the importance of such organisations that were in line with the demands of the Serb minority, though contrary to political normality.

Vote difference for referendum and election

Kosovo, in all cases of organising presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia, has not prevented the organising of these elections even in Serb majority-run areas in Kosovo.

The Kosovo government, in its response to Radio Free Europe, has stressed that it has not banned or denied Serbian citizens, who enjoy dual citizenship, “to exercise their right to participation in Serbia's” elections.

Despite this, the gap between the referendum on an exclusively domestic issue of a country and elections should be made. In the concrete case, Serbia is organising referendum on Serbia's state organisation system, as the tendency of Vuciki, respectively, for Serbia to appear a democratic and modern state”, the Government of Kosovo's response is said.

Professor Hasani says the organisation of the referendum for constitutional changes and the organisation of Serbia's presidential and parliamentary elections in Serb-run populated areas in Kosovo have substantial differences.

“As far as elections for state organs are concerned, there are people in other countries who have duality and can vote because it is not exercise and demonstration of sovereignty. The constitutional referendum, on the other hand, is 100 percent the exercise of a state's constitutional powers and a people”.

“Therefore, for organ elections and so on, they can be tolerated, because it has been and it is the spirit of Marti Ahtisaari [former Finnish president, who has created the Ahtisaari Plan and has opened the way for Kosovo's independence] and Kosovo is not one of those states that prohibits duality and is completely in order to vote on other organs. It means, there's nothing wrong with it,”, Hasani estimates.

“Lesson creating new leadership situation in Belgrade”

Analyst Muhhaxhiri points out that the Kosovo Government's decision that in Serb-run residential environments, not allowing the opening of options for the referendum on constitutional changes in Serbia will be a lecture on this state, which is not used to facing such blockive decisions.

This will also be a new situation for political leadership in Belgrade, especially for President Vuciq. However, if the Government of Kosovo manages to make such a blockade by having no consequences with its allies, the US and the EU, then it will be a big victory for Kosovo and a positive precedent for similar cases in the future”, Muhramir notes.

Regarding the inability of Serbia to organise the referendum on constitutional changes on Kosovo territory as well, the “Movement for Protection of Kosovo and Metohija” in Serbia has so far estimated that the failure to organise this referendum on Kosovo territory is “contrary to constitutional principles, and therefore provides sufficient reason for its annulment”.

The latest referendum in Serbia on confirming the new Constitution was held in 2006.

The referendum has lasted two days and has voted almost 55 per cent of the total number of voters.

The preamble of Serbia's current Constitution, which says that Kosovo and Metohija “Krahina is an integral part of Serbia's” territory, will not be the subject of the referendum to be held on January 16th.

Citizens of Serbia, on January 16th, will be declared by “po” or “for a question: “Are you confirming the act to change the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia?”.

The changes concern the judiciary, and Serbia has been tasked with the European Union membership process. As EU representatives have consistently explained, the goal of changing Serbia's Constitution is to achieve an independent judiciary, without political influence and rule of law.

If the changes are adopted, according to Serbia authorities, politics will be excluded from the election of judges and prosecutors.