Serbian list ahead of changes, a new party of Serbs on the horizon

Serbs in Kosovo will soon have a new political party, which will operate in all Serb-dominated areas in the north and south of the Iber River, with the aim of “protecting their interests”.

The Serbian People's Movement party, which is founded as an alternative to the Serbian List, by Branimir Stojanovic, political activist from the south, and Milia Bisevac from northern Kosovo.

The Serbian list, which has Belgrade's backing, was so far the only political option that functioned in all Serb residential facilities in Kosovo.

“We want to build a new political organisation that will represent the interests of people from all Serb communities reasonably and rationally”, Branimir Stojanovic says in a statement to Radio Free Europe (REL).

However, he did not want to reveal the names of people who, apart from him and Bisevac, will have a role in this movement.

For a while you will learn the names of several new people and other [Serb-inhabited] environments. You will see that it is a more serious and extensive initiative that is not limited to the two of us. Far from that, there will be many new people”, Stojanovic says.

He adds that some of those who will be members of the Serbian People's Movement have participated in politics, and others will be young.

One of the founders of the Serbian List was Branimir Stojanovic, who, after leaving this party, became her “opponent and critic”. As Stojanovic himself declared, he left the Serbian List because he no longer agreed with their policy.

In Kosovo's 2021 local elections, he was an independent candidate for mayor of Gracanica, a predominantly Serb municipality near Pristina.

That same year, Milia Bisevac participated in the elections in Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo with his Citizens Initiative, for Zubin Potok, when he entered the Municipal Assembly as adviser.

“We want to offer an alternative, show what it should be, not just to be against something, but to be in the interest of the common man”, Stojanovic said.

New faces on the Serbian List?
As new Serbian political options approach, the Serbian List, as it has announced, will hold the party's Parliament on Tuesday. This party has not been identified as the agenda, but local media in Albanian in Kosovo reported earlier that the Serbian List will elect the new chairman and chairmanship.

By 29 September, Serbian List deputy chairman Milan Radojic, who claimed responsibility for the attack on Kosovo police in Banjska near Zvecan by an armed group of Serbs, where police officer Africa Bulnjak was killed.

The Serbian list so far has not been distanced publicly from Radovici, nor has it reacted after his resignation.

Branimir Stojanovic, on the other hand, believes that any changes within the Serbian List will be formal, will otherwise not bring about substantial “changes”.

So it's important that our people understand that it's enough with this formalization... I believe that our people will appreciate very well that all the changes that are going to happen, are simply the declaration of a corrupt mechanism, which is hard to change”, Stojanovic said in a statement to REL.

Serbia's list of last fair elections held it in 2021, when Goran Rakiqi was elected party chairman for a four-year term.

While vice-chairmen were elected Milan Radociq, Igor Si enemies and Dalibor Yevtic.

Even Miodrag Marinkoviq from the nongovernmental organisation Centre for Affirmative Social Action, believes that new persons on the Serbian list will not say “realistically anything” and believes this party will certainly remain influential because of Belgrade's support.

This we can see from the government of the Serbian Progressive Party in Serbia, in which leading people in the party are replaced because they are discredited by a host of relatives. I think this is happening to the Serbian List. It's just an attempt at respiration, but it's not a substantial change of”, he says.

Will any other party have Belgrade's support?
Marinkovic from the Centre for Social Affairs Afirmative considers it good to have “pluralism” among the Serb community in Kosovo, following a decade of the absolute rule of the Serbian List.

However, it emphasises the importance of co-operation between political options that are declared as “alnative of the Serbian List” and mentions “the importance of co-operation with Belgrade” and the <x4 position unified towards Kosovo authorities in order to protect the interests of the Serbian community” as a reason.

Marinkovic, too, believes no new political option will have Belgrade's support if there is no control over it.

Serbia's “List is still at stake, it is discredited, but what makes it a valid factor among the Serb community is exactly support from Belgrade. There are mechanisms that can be used to influence voters”, Marinkovic says, and in this context mentions that a large number of employees in Serbian institutions are in Kosovo.

On the other hand, Branimir Stojanovic says at the moment it is important that they be backed by the usual “people”.

If someone else is going to support us later and realize that the policy made in this way cannot continue, we cannot know that. Of course, we want to talk to all those who affect our lives. Of course Belgrade is one of those addresses and whether there will be consensus on our argument, we cannot now know”, he points out.

Establishment of Other Initiatives Foresold
Political activist from North Mitrovica Dejan Nedelkovovic told REL earlier that he and his people would likewise form civic initiatives if local elections were announced in municipalities in the north, and that the Serbian List participates in them.

This is what citizens ask for, after 10 years of opposition, as we are fighting against the Serbian List, the people only ten years later have found out that we are right”, he said.

Also, a group of politicians from the north and south warned of the reactivating of the Serb National Council, which worked until 2013.

Otherwise, the announcement of extraordinary local elections in northern Kosovo is envisioned with the plan for stressing the situation, as Albanian mayors took power in northern Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposaviq and Zubin Potok. The elected mayors of these municipalities are not accepted by the local Serb population, which boycotted the April elections.

The Serbian list, which initially called for the boycott of elections, announced on 13 October that it is ready to participate.