Radakovic: Verification of citizens' signatures for the mayors' removal could have been completed within a day

Dusan Radakovic, Executive Director of the NGO Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture in North Mitrovica, believes that the process of removing the mayors in northern Kosovo, initiated by citizens submitting a petition but whose signatures have not been verified even after a month, is being politicized and time is being bought until next year, when regular local elections are due.

"The signatures were submitted nearly four weeks ago. We have less than 10,000 votes that realistically need to be verified within three hours, let's say even within 24 hours. Because in elections where there are 800,000 or 900,000 votes, those results are reviewed within three to four hours after the election day," Radakovic says.

He adds that now there are debates about whether the next step requires a Referendum Law, with the President of Kosovo saying it is not necessary, which creates the impression that the whole issue is being politicized to buy time until next year, when regular local elections are due.

He also states that it is shameful for the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Local Government that citizens have to give 10 or 20 times more votes to remove someone who received 100, 200, or 500 votes in the elections, as the mayor of North Mitrovica did, and yet it takes months for all of this.

"It is high time for the decision to be accepted, for us to go to a referendum or elections, and for the mayor and the assembly to represent the real picture of the citizens living in the north, both in number and percentage," Radakovic notes.

Criticism from the international community regarding how the process of mayor's removal is taking place, he says, is mild and without concrete sanctions.

"We will reach June next year and regular elections, and in that case, I hope for the participation of all Serbian parties and associations," Radakovic says.

Citizens in the municipalities of North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic, and Zubin Potok collected signatures in January as part of a petition for the mayors' removal, according to the Administrative Instruction of the Ministry of Local Government from September last year. The signatures were submitted to the Central Election Commission, which is supposed to determine whether a minimum of 20 percent of registered voters' signatures has been collected in these municipalities, but the verification by the CEC is still pending.