Kurti with Davenport: No Serbian elections without an interstate agreement

Prime Minister Albin Kurti emphasized today in a meeting with the head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Michael Davenport, that without an 'interstate agreement' with Serbia, the organization of Serbian elections in Kosovo would not be allowed, stating that the request for such an agreement should come from Serbia as the interested party, Koha reports.

According to the statement from the Government of Kosovo, Kurti and Davenport discussed cooperation in the field of the rights of non-majority communities in the country, as well as other current topics.

"With regard to Serbia's request for holding elections in the territory of Kosovo, Kurti emphasized that, as he had informed the head of the OSCE in his response on November 17, an interstate agreement was necessary for that, and the request for such an agreement must come from Serbia as the interested party", the statement said.

In a letter sent to Davenport a few days earlier, Kurti expressed the opinion that Serbian elections could not be organized in Kosovo.

Local and parliamentary elections in Serbia are scheduled for December 17 this year.

Ahead of the meeting with Kurti, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Pristina, Michael Davenport, stated for Kosovo Online that this mission was ready to engage in collecting ballots from Serbian voters who would vote in Kosovo in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for December 17, but only if there were conditions for it.

"The OSCE is ready to conduct the collection of ballots from Serbian voters who would vote in Kosovo, as was the case in previous elections, assuming that the same conditions exist. These conditions include above all, consensus on approaching this issue from all interested parties, support from Kosovo institutions, and crucially, there must be security support from the Kosovo Police to ensure the voting process," Davenport stated.