22 minutes agoWhere and how will it be voted in North Mitrovica elections?
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)On April 23rd, citizens of the four municipalities in northern Kosovo -- inhabited by Serb majority -- will address polling stations to elect four new mayors and two new compositions of municipal assemblies. But as opposed to the past, in these elections, they are boycotted by [...]
But, unlike the past, in these elections, which are boycotted by the largest Serbian party in Kosovo, the Serbian List of Elections, except in some schools, will be held in containers as well.
Why are elections being held?
On November 5, 2022, the mayors of North Mitrovica, Lposaviqi, Zvecan and Zubin Potok from the Serbian List resigned.
They, along with municipal asmavists and other officials from the security and justice sector, made this decision in disgruntled with a decision by the Government of Kosovo, which imposed on Serbs to replace their car plates, issued by Serbia, with those of the Republic of Kosovo.
The collective resignations created institutional vacuums and caused the holding of extraordinary elections to be initially scheduled for December 18th that same year.
The process on this date was cancelled, following increasing tensions in the north. Groups of local Serbs attacked election officials in northern Mitrovica and Zubin Potok on 6 December, who were preparing to hold elections.
Tensions continued and culminated in several incidents with firearms and with the location of barricades on roads leading to two border crossings with Serbia: Jarinje and Brnjak.
The barricades were deployed after the arrest of former Kosovo Serb police officer Dejan Pantek, charged with attacking election officials. They were removed after several weeks, respectively, after the detention measure was changed to domestic arrest.
Kosovo and Serbia, meanwhile, reached agreement on the license issue. Kosovo gave up punishments that were set forth for drivers with Serbian illegal license plates, while Serbia agreed no longer to issue license plates for Kosovo cities, such as KM (Kosovo's Mitrovica), PR and similar.
Who will compete in the April 23rd elections?
11 candidates, two of whom come from the Serb community, will compete for elections for the four mayors in the north.
The subjects in the race are: The civic initiative Mitrovica, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Party of Serbs of Kosovo, the Vetevendosje Movement, as well as an independent candidate.
Elections will also be held to elect two new municipal assemblies -- in Leposavic and Zvecan.
The total number of citizens who can vote, according to the Central Election Commission, is 45.095.
On March 23rd, a day after the end of the deadline for submitting candidacys to the CEC, the Serbian List said it would not participate in the elections due to “consequences of continued institutional violence”, which “implements the regime of [Kosovo Prime Minister] Albin Kurti”.
“First of all, due to the failure to meet our clear demands, which were the reasons why we left Kosovo institutions, respectively: the formation of the Serb majority municipalities' association and the withdrawal of all special forces from Kosovo's north”, was said at the Serbian List's announcement.
She did not bring any evidence that would support her claims for “institutional violence”.
Vote in County
Votes for elections in Kosovo are usually held in schools. In the north, according to the CEC, 44 polling stations have opened in the past. But for April 23rd elections, it will be 19 polling stations13 of which will be placed in containers.
Opening polling stations in many schools this time became impossible, as they are controlled by structures working according to Serbia's system, which opposes the elections.
Therefore, the CEC said alternative centres would be in container, which would be located at different locations in four municipalities in the north.
What was said in Pristina and Belgrade about the elections?
The decision to hold elections in the north was conveyed with different positions in Pristina and Belgrade.
As authorities in Kosovo accused Serbia that through the media it is “that the northern Serbs take part in the elections, those in Serbia said the decision to not participate in the election was made by the Serbian List itself.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on April 18th that there is no information that obstacles to the election process are being prepared. However, he said Belgrade is asking Serbs not to participate.
I invite all those who have the right to vote, come out and vote. I know this stands in contrast to the calls coming from the capital of our northern neighbor. But we have no information, which will make us think obstacles are being prepared, obstructions of this process, besides media intimidation coming from official Belgrade”, Kurti said.
Kurti voiced confidence that the elections will be held and said there may be second round in some municipalities.
On the other hand, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, said that after 24 April, Kurti “would be head of North Mitrovica”, alluding that Serbs would not participate in the election process.
He also reiterated the Serbs' conditions for returning to Kosovo institutions: forming the Association of Serb-dominated municipalities and attracting Kosovo Special Police Units from northern Kosovo.
In Pristina, however, there were also rumours against holding elections. Nongovernmental Organisation Democracy in Action ( DnV said in early April that current circumstances “cannot organise and hold elections in the north” according to standards for free elections.
This organisation said that the fact that there are not many candidates from the ranks of the Serb community since over 90 per cent of the population in the north is Serb ʹ could affect the legitimacy of institutions that will emerge from these elections, as “does not guarantee the fair representation of the Serb community”.
DnV saw the situation in the north as the fragile “”.
But for Minister of Internal Affairs Jedal Svecla, the situation in the north since the end of the war in 1999, it has not been good. During a report before a parliamentary commission on April 14th, he said the “security issue in the north has never been better, security institutions have never done better work”.
Against holding the elections, former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, currently deputy of the opposition party, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, said.
During a speech in the Kosovo Assembly, Haradinaj said that because of the situation in the north, authorities would have to postpone holding elections.
What did the internationals say?
The United States, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy known as the states of the QUINT called for all parties to exercise restraint on April 23rd and avoid violence” that could derail the election process.
The QUINT states expressed regret that in the extraordinary elections in the north, the Serbian List did not use the “democratic right to participate in them”.
Sorry, too, expressed the European Union.
“The elections are the cornerstone of democracy, and the EU has always stressed the importance of inclusion”, EU spokesman Peter Stano told Radio Free Europe on March 27th.
According to him, the most important thing is that such elections be held under peaceful conditions.
