North Mitrovica, Leposaviq launches petition for chairmanial dismissal

In North Mitrovica and Leposaviq, citizens today can sign the petition to dismiss mayors from the Albanian community.

The signature collection started at 9:00.

In northern Mitrovica, the petition was launched after the municipal assistants approved the initiative's request that the signing collection take place in the sports hall in this municipality in northern Kosovo, inhabited by Serb majority.

Meanwhile in Leposaviq, according to one of the petition initials, Veselin Radovovic, has been granted permission to use space in front of the municipality for signing collection.

Sanja Kurtinic, one of the initiatives in the petition launch in northern Mitrovica, through the media, announced citizens to take with them the necessary documents for signing the petition.

It invited citizens to sign the application for the dismissal of the current mayor of the municipality, calling on the directors of institutions that are funded by Serbia and the employees of these institutions, which have residences in North Mitrovica, to take IDs with them and sign the petition.

According to some sources of Radio Free Europe, messages with such calls for signing the petition have been sent to workers at the Clinical Hospital Centre in Northern Mitrovica, teachers, municipal institutions working according to the Serbian system, as well as those who have left Kosovo institutions in 2022, but are now paid off by Serbia's budget.

Workers of various institutions in northern Mitrovica are expected to go organised in the sports hall to sign the petition. Social networking has called on employees to be there at 0900.

Free Europe Radio has learned that parallel institutions' leaders have told workers on winter vacation and are not found in northern Mitrovica that they can sign the petition by January 21st.

Next week, the signing collection was expected to begin in Zvecan and Zubin Potok.

The mayors in the four municipalities in northern Kosovo, which are inhabited by Serb majority -- North Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zvecan and Zubin Potok -- are Albanians, as Serb parties and populations boycotted last year's local elections.

Signings for their departure are now being collected on the basis of the Government of Kosovo Administrative Guide, which was approved in early September 2023.

In order for the petition to be successful, at least 20 percent of the signatures from the total number of registered voters are required to be collected.

According to the Central Election Commission (KQZ), at least 3,640 signatures for the mayor's dismissal should be collected in northern Mitrovica, as 18,199 eligible voters have been registered.

In the fair voting municipality of Leposavic, there are 13,441 persons, meaning that at least 2,689 of them should sign the petition for the chairman's dismissal.

In Zubin Potok the petition must answer at least 1.347 voters, which is 20 percent out of 6,732 registered voters.

And in Zvecan, for the petition to be successful, it must be signed by at least 1,411 people.

By Administrative Guide for the dismissal of the municipality leader, a group of citizens, after obtaining authorisation to exploit a public area or place to launch a petition, have 30 days to collect signatures for the chairman's dismissal. This deadline can only be extended once to 15 days.

However, Local Power Management Minister Elbert Krasniqi said last week that citizens of Northern Mitrovica, Leposaviqi and Zubin Potok have deadlines to collect signatures by 22 December. He added that the deadline for citizens of the Zvecan municipality is longer for about five days, due to the CEC, requirements have later been submitted to know the exact number of registered voters.

If the CEC confirms that the signatures collected are enough and verify them, then the vote for the chairman's dismissal will be held within 45 days. For this vote to be successful, it takes 50 percent, plus one vote of citizens for voting.

After that, the result is sent to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, who has a legal deadline of 30 to 45 days to announce holding early elections.

The launch of Albanian mayors' office in municipalities in the north sparked tensions in late May, tensions that culminated in Zvecan, after Serb protesters clashed with members of NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR.

The international community has called for lowering tensions and announcing new elections in four municipalities in northern Kosovo.