Osmani pleads for elections in the north: Serbian citizens threatened

I commend the Central Election Commission for the preparations made, which enabled the realisation of the voting process for extraordinary municipal elections in northern Mitrovica municipalities, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviqi. I also thank all security institutions for professional work, which provided a safe and secure environment along the election process, which was postponed from December 2022 to April 2023”, Osmani wrote.

According to her, Kosovo institutions have enabled citizens to realise the right to participate in the elections, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Kosovo, and according to Osmani, showed that criminal groups that are guided by Serbia cannot dictate constitutional and legal processes in the Republic of Kosovo.

She has also thanked the citizens for participating in the vote.

“Thank all citizens who participated in the vote, despite the illegal intervention of Serbia and its criminal structures to prevent this from happening. As a result of these criminal acts, many Serb citizens of these municipalities were threatened and blackmailed in order not to participate in the election process and thus cannot express the political will to elect their local representatives, Osmani has said.

According to her, external intervention in election processes is a global problem for the democratic world, which not only teaches to undermine civic will but also violates the principle of sovereign equality of states as one of the fundamental norms of international order.

Kosovo's “Republic has voiced its pledge at the Summit for Democracy, organised under the auspices of President Biden, to stand by the democratic states to combat the growing foreign intervention phenomenon in election processes”, Osmani has moved away.

Osmani has said Serbia's continued and open commitment to prevent the holding of free elections in the Republic of Kosovo is against the spirit and letter of the recent agreement reached in Brussels, along with the implementation plan.

“As such, this approach of Serbia should be rejected by the entire democratic world, since it also presents acts of illegal intervention from abroad, which is condemned by a series of international legal acts”, the president has said.

According to her, Kosovo institutions will step up efforts and stay close to all citizens in Kosovo's four northern municipalities in order to protect themselves from threats to illegal structures.

Kosovo's “Institutions will also co-ordinate actions with strategic allies to halt Serbia's further destabilising actions, which are even contrary to the recent Brussels agreement. We are determined to work together with the citizens of these municipalities for more and more better living conditions, more democracy and well-being in each neighbourhood of each municipality”, the president has said in the end.