North Elections Requestioned

The elections, scheduled for April 23rd, according to them, are still in question.

On the day when the deadline for application and confirmation of political subjects and candidates expires, they call for an urgent political agreement.

The extraordinary elections are held after mayors from the Serb List ranks in municipalities in northern Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zvecan and Zubin Potok have resigned in early November last year, due to the Kosovo Government's decision to re-register cars with Serbian license plates in Kosovo's license plates.
Surrenders have also given up Serbs employed in the judiciary, administration, police and customs of Kosovo.

The extraordinary local elections were originally announced on December 18th 2022, but, at the request of the international community, were postponed just ten days before they were held.

The Serbian list, even then, has refused participation, even though the Kosovo government has suspended the decision to reregister cars, under an agreement with Serbia.

Are there conditions for holding elections?

In mid-March, the CEC has announced that political subjects and candidates confirmed in November for participation in the December 18th elections, 2022, have already confirmed the turnout and that they do not need to apply anymore.

At the time, there were 11 candidates from four political subjects, of whom only two were of the Serb community.

Can the elections be postponed?

Dusan Radakovic says that without any quick political agreement, it is quite certain that extraordinary local elections in the north will be postponed “most likely to June”.

He argues that Serbs have also left municipal election commissions and that, simply, no one has to organise the whole process.

Another problem, according to him, is that without political agreement, the Kosovo Central Election Commission will have nowhere to open the polls.

“Without any serious political agreement and participation of Serbian candidates, I fear there will be no electoral process”, Radakovic says.
So far, the practice has been for the polls to open in educational institutions, but those in Serbian areas operate in the Serbian system, so it is possible that directors will not allow their objects to be exploited.

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.

Why does the Serbian List refuse to participate in the elections?

Two days after this Serbian president's statement, the Serbian List has reiterated its earlier position that it will not participate in the elections, until its demands -- which are the formation of the Association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo and the withdrawal of all special Kosovo Police units from the north -- are met.

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.

Is the agreement between the Government of Kosovo and the Serbian List an option?

Violet Hajoli expresses her concern that the Serbian List again does not want to participate in the elections, and adds that Kosovo authorities “urgently need to create communication with her”.

She estimates that Serbian List “is boycotting elections for political reasons” and that, in this context, the only solution is the political agreement.

Without its [Serbian List] participation, the elections do not make any sense. The Serbian list has won the majority of the Serb community's votes in Kosovo, and the Serb community should have it as an option to vote”, Hajoli says.

The Serbian list has won more than 90 per cent of the vote in previous election processes, but, in 2021, the EU has estimated that this party has “monopolised” the political life of Kosovo Serbs.