Local elections in the north have no legitimacy if Kosovo Serbs do not participate

If the Serbs do not participate in the extraordinary local elections in the north of Kosovo, those elections will not be legitimate, according to Pristina analyst Albinot Maloku and former Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Branimir Stojanovic. The Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, believes that citizens in the north are aware of the importance of these elections, Voice of America reports.

Albinot Maloku, an analyst from Pristina, believes that it is good that local elections have been announced in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, because, according to him, this is a constitutional and legal obligation of the President of Kosovo. However, Maloku points out for the Voice of America that they will not have any legitimacy if the Serbs boycott those elections.

"It will not make any sense if all the parties that are registered in Kosovo and should be part of these processes, i.e. elections, do not participate. If this happens, then these elections will be invalid, because they do not have legitimacy, although there is legality in the case of elections," Maloku stated.

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Branimir Stojanovic believes that organizing elections in the north of Kosovo is "adding fuel to the fire and creating additional tensions and pressure". He stated for the Voice of America that the elections could be held, but that without the participation of the Serbs, they would not have any significance.

"It is possible to organize a boycott there, and a boycott will definitely take place. You see that all the parties that exist there have already declared that they will not participate, if all the parties that exist will not participate, then I don't know what to choose. This is just proof that it is not enough that a decision has only legality and may be strictly formal according to the law, but it also needs to have legitimacy, i.e. has the support of those people who are affected by that decision," Stojanovic said.

Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Besnik Bislimi believes that citizens in the north of Kosovo are aware of the importance of voting. Bislimi said this when asked by the Voice of America "whether the elections in the north can be considered legitimate, if Serbian political parties and citizens boycott them."

"This is the strongest democratic instrument through which you punish someone or reward some other mechanism. The Serb List has been part of the institutions for years. I was and I am the deputy prime minister, I have zero meetings with Mr. Rakic, zero requests for his projects that protect or advance interests and zero initiatives of the Serb List in the Parliament. I think this is a golden opportunity for you to choose those mechanisms that really promote the interests of the community, and not the interests of certain clans of policymakers in Belgrade," Bislimi said.

The leader of the Civic Initiative Serbian survival, Aleksandar Arsenijevic, believes that under these conditions it is impossible to hold democratic elections in the north of Kosovo and that the decision to cancel those elections was rushed.

"In this regard, the citizens we talked to, whose voices we listen to very well and try to be their voice, do not want to participate in the elections, so our decision will be not to participate in the elections," Arsenijevic said.

Maloku and Stojanovic see the solution to the crisis related to the elections in Kosovo, which arose after the resignations of mayors and councilors in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

"So without some blessing from Belgrade, there can't be an election, that's what people, who are not part of the great political influence that Belgrade has on the Serbs in Kosovo, say. To tell the truth, it's very bad, the lack of an alternative slightly bigger than the current party that is called the Serb List," Maloku said.

Stojanovic emphasizes - "only negotiations, there is no other solution".

"When things are brought to this situation, to this state, to this level of pre-conflict state, then it is necessary to negotiate at the highest level. Nothing else is the solution. All other games and simulating some kind of democracy, inviting some supposedly leaders to talk about something - it has no effect, the highest level Belgrade, Pristina and Brussels is the only solution. Everything else is a waste of time," Stojanovic says.

Extraordinary local elections in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo will be held on December 18 this year. That date was set by the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, after the mayors and councilors in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo submitted their resignations. The Serbian List announced yesterday that it will not participate in those elections.