EU regrets Serbian List did not capitalise on voter turnout

The European Union has said it regrets that the Serbian List of Serbs in Kosovo has not exploited the democratic right to participate in extraordinary elections in municipalities in northern Kosovo.

These elections are scheduled to be held on April 23rd, following their postponement in December last year, at the request of the international community.

The world, for elections in the north, has applied 11 candidates who have also been valued for the April elections.

“The elections are the cornerstone of democracy, and the EU has always stressed the importance of inclusion”, said EU spokesman Peter Stano, adding that it is very important that these elections be held under peaceful conditions.

The regret of not participating the Serbian List in this election has been expressed by the QUINT group countries, the United States, Great Britain, Italy, France and Germany.

During election preparations in December, Kosovo authorities have recorded several incidents, such as preventing the opening of the Central Election Commission offices.

According to political issues connoisseurs, the failure to apply the Serbian List to the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo in this election endangers the overall success of the process.

The Serbian List, which enjoys the support of official Belgrade, has reconfirmed on March 20th that it will not participate in the elections and will take that stance until two requirements are met: forming the Association of Serb-run municipalities, and attracting all special Kosovo Police units from northern Kosovo.

The issue of forming association should be resolved with the EU-backed normalisation agreement, which both Kosovo and Serbia have accepted.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has declared on March 21st that “will have to deal with that formulation in terms of self-awareness for the Serb community”.

Self-awareness for the Serb community in Kosovo is envisioned with the Agreement towards normalisation, but it is still not known exactly what it is all about.

For association, meanwhile, Kosovo and Serbia were hired in 2013. It envisions that Kosovo Serbs have “full jurisdiction” in specific areas, such as spatial planning, health, education, economic development and so forth.

Kurti, in some cases, has reiterated that Kosovo cannot allow the formation of one-ethnic associations because, according to him, these endanger the functioning of the state.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq, after a meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, on March 18th in Ohrid, has said elections in the north could be postponed for June.

I will not speak on behalf of the Serbian List. I just need to talk to those people. I need to see whether [the elections] should be held now or in June, we will see”, Vuciq said.

The extraordinary local elections will be organised in four northern municipalities -- northern Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposaviq and Zubin Potok -- following their chairmanial resignations in November last year.

Their resignations, as well as the collective resignations of Serbs from Kosovo institutions, have been a sign of dissatisfaction with the Government of Kosovo's decision to reregister cars with Serbian license plates at the RKS Republic of Kosovo.

Since 2013, when this party was formed, it has received over 90 per cent of the votes from the Serb community in almost all of Kosovo's elections.

However, the EU observer mission regularly mentions in reports that, the Serbian List has “monopolised political life among Kosovo Serbs”.