Doubts of working with relatives with Serbian List are cancelled in Gracanica

Contests for the admission of employees to health institutions on the territory of the Gracanica municipality, near Pristina, have been cancelled on the evening of April 5th, as for several days disgruntled local residents have protested, arguing that jobs were inviting the appropriate “persons, close to the Serbian List.

The Serbian list is the largest Serb party in Kosovo, and this subject enjoys official Belgrade's support.

However, in the decision published on the official site of the Family Medicine Centre in Gracanica, it is said that competitions for admission into labour have been cancelled “due to the 30-day deadline for making the decision to select candidates”.

Health institutions in majority Serb areas in Kosovo operate according to Serbia's system, and competitions for new jobs have been announced by the Ministry of Health of Serbia in late January. The admission of new employees into the health sector coincided with the pre-election campaign for parliamentary elections in Kosovo, held on February 9th, where the Serbian List competed.

The chairman of this party, Zlatko Elek, said during the election campaign that “in the past period, Serbia's state has secured a large number of jobs and that this is one of the ways to survive [in Kosovo]”.

Elek is also director of the Clinical Hospital Centre in Northern Mitrovica, one of the four municipalities in northern Kosovo, inhabited by the Serb majority.

Tens of residents who have protested in front of the Family Medicine Centres in Gracanica, Uglar and Post Augustrice have claimed that work at these health institutions has only been taken by those close to the Serbian List, and that some of those who have been employed, even do not live at all in Kosovo.

Petar Djordjevic of Gracanica stressed that pressure has been exerted on those who protested, while calling on everyone that “documents threats”.

Radio Free Europe on April 4th also addressed the Serbian List to comment on citizens' accusations concerning party employment and pressures to them, but this political subject has not returned. Neither has the Ministry of Health of Serbia, which is responsible for institutions in Serb areas in Kosovo, operating according to Serbia's system, on charges of protesters related to the contests. /REL/ Periscope.