Elections for mayors of northern Kosovo municipalities only one candidate from the Serb community

The chairman of this party, Aleksandar Jablanovic, said there are no conditions suitable for holding elections, while citing Sunday's vote to be held in containers and under the presence of security forces.

The Central Election Commission has already placed containers on major roads in the north, where there will be a total of 19 polling stations.

The withdrawal of the Party of Kosovo Serbs has left only one candidate from the Serb community in the race, which will compete for the post of mayor of Zvecan.

Posts of mayors in northern Kosovo remained empty in November last year, when Serb representatives in the area resigned from their jobs amid tensions over the government's decision to convert Serbia's issued license plates.

Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, reiterated that the condition for the return of Serbs to Kosovo institutions is the founding of the Association of Serb majority municipalities and urged Serbian citizens not to come to the polls.

“S first, the boycott does not specify the” elections, US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar told Voice of America, stressing that he personally has asked the Serbian List, the main political subject of Kosovo Serbs to participate in the polls.

The fact that they do not participate is their decision. But these are predicted by the Constitution. There are unfinished places. There are people who aren't taking services from local government because there's no participation. So if these choices are free and fair, and I predict they are, the result will be legitimate from our point of view”, Mr. Escobar told Voice of America.

Serbian President Vucic, on Thursday evening, sharply criticised the top Western countries for backing Sunday's elections.

Calling “denies” diplomats of the Western five; The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, he said their goal is the inability to establish the Association of Serb majority municipalities.

Citing Sunday's elections as “a serious day for Serbian people, he called on residents of the north to avoid incidents.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti called on citizens in the north on Tuesday to come to the polls, as he said, there is a need for democratic legitimacy and institutional functioning.

“I regret that Kosovo Serb citizens have been subjected to fierce media propaganda from Belgrade, which are close to power there not to show constructiveness and not to use their right to vote”, Prime Minister Kurti said.

The elections were initially scheduled for December 18th of last year, but they were postponed at the request of Western diplomats, who were involved in an effort for a normalisation agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, which the parties agreed on 18 March in Ohrid.

Talks on its implementation are expected to be held on 2 May in Brussels.