Gogic: The aim of the Albanians in the north is to stay in power for as long as possible; expect obstruction from Pristina

Political analyst Ognjen Gogic assessed for Kosovo Online that Albanian mayors of the four municipalities in northern Kosovo hoped that the vote for their dismissal would fail, allowing them to remain in power for as long as possible. As he stated, obstruction should be expected.

The Central Election Commission accepted the petition for the dismissal of mayors today and proposed that the vote be held on April 21st. Gogic reminded that the number of signatures collected on the petitions far exceeded the number of votes these mayors received in the elections, which was a clear indicator of the political will against them in northern Kosovo.

"However, it is not about these mayors being in doubt or delusion, thinking that citizens support them and that they need this petition as an indication of how citizens view them. Citizens show them almost daily, at every opportunity, that they consider them illegitimate, so it is not a matter of them finally realizing they are illegitimate and that this petition is a clear signal from citizens. It's about them wanting to hold power in those municipalities for as long as possible," Gogic said.

Their policy and approach, according to Gogic, is to stay in office for as long as possible.

"So they will really try to stay in power for as long as they can, waiting for these referendums, or votes for the dismissal of mayors, as it is legally called, and then later to organize new elections if those votes are successful," Gogic said.

He emphasized that the mayors of the four municipalities hoped that the votes for their dismissal would fail. Gogic adds "that efforts might be underway in that direction".

"We should expect new obstructions from institutions, both central and local on the Kosovo side, which will try to obstruct the process of mayors' dismissal in order to remain in power for as long as possible. They count on Serbs not finding it easy to gather enough votes in that vote. The threshold is set very high. The Serbs need to support the dismissal of mayors with more than 50 percent of registered voters, which will not be easy at all because those voter lists are not updated. They do not reflect the actual number, and moreover, over the past years, people have been leaving for central Serbia and changing their residence, finally, due to security reasons and disappointment with the whole process. It will be difficult to convince the Serbs living in northern Kosovo to vote in those elections for the dismissal of mayors, so the mayors in the four municipalities in the north are hoping that these referendums will fail and that then they can say that there are actually fewer Serbs in northern Kosovo than believed," Gogic concluded.