Blazic: The electoral will of Serbs has been altered, election law must be amended

Researcher at the Center for Social Stability, Marko Blazic, tells Kosovo Online that the electoral will of Serbs living in Kosovo has been altered by taking away a mandate from the Serb List. He emphasizes the urgent need for changes to the election law to ensure that votes for the parliamentary seats reserved for the Serbian community are counted only from municipalities where Serbs form a majority.

“We are witnessing a successful attempt to alter the electoral will of Serbs living in our southern province during the provincial elections. They used Albanian votes from Albanian-majority areas to seize a mandate from the Serb List, thereby creating a false impression that Serbian unity has been disrupted and that the Serbian people do not unanimously support the only true political option advocating for Serbian interests in the southern province, and that is the Serb List,” Blazic stated.

He describes the situation in which Nenad Rasic’s For Freedom, Justice, and Survival party won one of the ten guaranteed Serbian community seats thanks to votes from non-Serbian-majority municipalities as an abuse of the election law. He compares it to the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Zeljko Komsic was elected as the representative of the Croatian people through votes from Bosnian Muslims.

Blazic stresses the necessity of amending the election law, suggesting that such changes could be part of a broader legislative package when the Community of Serb Municipalities is finally established. Under this model, votes for the ten Serbian community seats would be counted only from municipalities included in the CSM – meaning areas where Serbs constitute the majority.

“This is one way to achieve a fair and just solution that would eliminate room for manipulation. If Albin Kurti has gotten away with this now, he will only expand electoral fraud in future elections. It is expected that he will take even more mandates from the legitimate and legal representatives of the Serbian people,” Blazic warned.

According to him, every parliamentary seat is crucial for Kurti at the moment, which is why he resorted to these maneuvers to help Self-Determination form a new government. If Rasic were to become a minister in the potential new Self-Determination government, Kurti would need to consult with Serb List MPs on the matter, however, Blazic believes that a ministerial position is not Rasic’s primary goal.

“Unfortunately, financial gain from his cooperation with Albin Kurti will be sufficient satisfaction for him, along with other privileges he will receive in exchange for supporting the formation of the Self-Determination government. So, the ministerial position itself is not crucial for him. He will be compensated in other ways for his support of Kurti’s government,” Blazic concluded.