Citizens signing petitions for the removal of the mayors in the north, what are the next steps?

Citizens of North Mitrovica and Leposavic started signing petitions today for the removal of the mayors in their municipalities, as outlined in the administrative instructions of the Kosovo Ministry of Local Government from September of last year. The initiators of these actions are confident that the required number of signatures will be quickly collected, but predicting the course of this process further is challenging. Analysts believe that the political will of Pristina will be a decisive factor in whether the removal of mayors in northern Kosovo and the organization of new elections will be delayed.

There are no official reports on when the collection of signatures within petitions will begin in Zubin Potok and Zvecan.

Regarding the initiation of petitions, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani stated today that the laws of Kosovo allowed such a procedure as outlined in the administrative instructions and that it was a "right belonging to citizens in the northern municipalities".

The current Albanian mayors in the four municipalities in northern Kosovo were elected in the elections held on April 23, 2023, which the Serbs boycotted. Erden Atiq was elected in North Mitrovica, Lulzim Hetemi in Leposavic, Ilir Peci in Zvecan, and Izmir Zeqiri in Zubin Potok. Only about 3.5% of voters turned out to the polls, leading citizens in these municipalities to consider these mayors illegitimate.

Dragisa Mijacic, the coordinator of the working group of the National Convention of the European Union for Chapter 35, tells Kosovo Online that he believes the organizers will collect enough signatures, but he is not sure that there won't be further procedural ambiguities or problems to prolong the removal process as much as possible. However, he assesses that acceleration is possible if Kosovo comes under pressure related to its request for membership in the Council of Europe.

"It is good that signatures are being collected and that enough will be gathered to show a desire to remove the mayors, but I believe that the process will not be so fast and efficient, and many factors will influence the entire process. At this moment, we cannot specify any deadline for the removal of the mayors," Mijacic says.

For petition submission, it is necessary to collect at least 20% of signatures from the total number of registered voters in a specific municipality, followed by a vote on the removal of the mayor. According to the CEC data, the total number of citizens with the right to vote in the municipality of Leposavic is 13,441, and 20% of citizens needed to sign the petition is 2,689. In North Mitrovica, the number of voters is 18,199, and 20% constitutes 3,640 people.

Mijacic notes that the administrative instructions for the petitions for the removal of mayors prescribe clear steps on the one hand, while on the other hand, they are not precise in defining deadlines. He also points out that it is questionable whether the instructions comply with the Kosovo Constitution and that, at some point, there may be obstructions in the sense that the Constitutional Court may say that the administrative instructions are not in line with the Constitution.

"I believe that the Government of Kosovo will be under pressure regarding Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, and it will influence speeding up these processes. This is part of political bargaining at a higher level, and it is a matter of the assessment of Kosovo institutions – whether they want quick elections or not. If they want them, they are certainly tied to the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities and all the obligations that are part of the normalization dialogue process. If the Kosovo side wants to delay this process, then we can expect it to last quite a long time, six months or more, counting from this moment," Mijacic says.

He explains that Kosovo, as a part of the conditions for becoming a member of the Council of Europe, among other things, has the formation of the CSM.

"To achieve its formation, there must be progress in bringing Serbs back into institutions and organizing new elections in northern Kosovo. All these processes are interconnected, and the first instance where the candidacy of Kosovo for admission to the Council of Europe will be considered is in March and April. So, if there is more conditioning related to Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, then the processes related to the petition and the removal of mayors will be accelerated," Mijacic concludes.

As he adds, the European Union and the United States are very interested in calming the situation in northern Kosovo, and this cannot happen without organizing new elections and reinstating Serbian mayors in the four northern municipalities, as well as without withdrawing special police forces from administrative buildings.

Sanja Krtinic, a representative of the civic initiative for the dismissal of the mayor of North Mitrovica, stated for Kosovo Online that she was satisfied with today's turnout of citizens and that, in all likelihood, more than half of the votes have been collected during the first day of petition signing.

“We are very pleased with the citizens' response, considering that this is only the first day of collecting signatures and petitions. We can only say that we have probably collected more than half of the required 3,640 votes. I don't know if you followed, but people were coming all the time, the hall was full, and signatures were being collected all the time. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to count how many votes there were“, Krtinic said.

As she stated, today had passed without incidents, irregularities, and irregularities, and she also said that the President of the Assembly of the Municipality of North Mitrovica, Nexhat Uglanin, had visited the hall where signatures were being collected and had followed the process.

"The petition continues until we collect more votes than necessary because we want to show the citizens' will. On the other hand, we do not want room for the petition to be annulled or contested", Krtinic stated.

She recalled that from the beginning, this initiative had faced significant obstructions, as the law had been interpreted, as she said, in one way or another.

According to her, the next steps will be to verify all documents - whether they are regular, properly signed, and similar - to avoid any problems or obstructions by the Central Election Commission or the presiding officer of the Municipal Assembly. The petition will then be submitted, awaiting the decision of the CEC.

"We consider that the mayor was illegally and illegitimately elected in the elections and does not represent the voice of the Serbs, nor the other communities living in this area", Krtiniv emphasized.

Leaders of the Serb List also signed the petition for the removal of the mayor of North Mitrovica today.

A member of the citizens' initiative group in Leposavic, legal expert Veselin Radovic, stated to Kosovo Online that he expected the petition for the removal of the mayor in that city to succeed, after which further steps would be taken towards the removal of, as he said, the illegitimately elected president of the municipality.

"The people are interested. I want to thank our citizens for coming in such large numbers and I hope they continue like this so that we can succeed in our intentions", Radovic said.

As he added, he had high expectations from the petition and hoped that it was just the beginning of the struggle.

"We expect the petition to be filled out so that we can move on to the next step in the removal of the illegitimate mayor", Radovic emphasized.

According to the procedure outlined in the administrative instructions, the collected signatures should be submitted to the chairman of the Municipal Assembly, who is obliged to forward them to the Central Election Commission within five days. The CEC verifies the signature list and informs the chairman of the Municipal Assembly and the Ministry of Local Government after verification. If, upon verification, signatures are found from individuals not registered as voters in a specific municipality, their signatures will be deemed invalid. If it is determined that the petition was not supported by at least 20% of the registered voters, the civic initiative is given the opportunity to supplement the request with additional signatures within ten days.

Once it is confirmed that the request has been supported by at least 20% of voters, the organization of a vote on the removal of the mayor from office follows.