Radakovic on the vote for the dismissal of mayors: The chairpersons of the MECs should be representatives of the Serbian community

In order for the votes on the dismissal of mayors in the municipalities of Leposavic, Zubin Potok, Zvecan, and North Mitrovica, which are proposed to be held on April 21 according to the Central Election Commission's proposal, to be transparent and democratic, according to the assessment of the Executive Director of the NGO Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture from North Mitrovica, Dusan Radakovic, the chairpersons of the municipal election commissions (MECs) should be representatives of the Serbian community, just as the majority of members in the polling stations should be Serbs.

"We know that in the elections in these municipalities in April last year, the chairpersons of the municipal election commissions were from Malisevo, Vucitrn, Srbica, South Mitrovica... The situation here is specific, and if the chairperson of the MEC is not a representative of the Serbian community, it immediately raises the problem that there will be no opportunity for voting in schools. In my opinion, if the citizens' voting takes place in containers as it did in April last year, with special police units and with up to 6,000 people voting at one place, it will only complicate this process and crossing the threshold of 50% of voters required for mayors to be dismissed," Radakovic says.

He adds that it is important for the voting to be organized in classrooms and that it is equally important for the composition of the polling stations to reflect 90% of the Serbian community living in northern Kosovo.

"In them, there should be representatives of all parties, civic associations, the NGO sector..., and not someone from Malisevo who has never been to Leposavic in their life to be in the committee. This process should be more democratic and legal than the one in April last year," Radakovic emphasizes.

When asked if the dismissal of Albanian mayors and the election of new ones is enough to de-escalate the situation in the north, or if this process should be accompanied by the election of new councilors in the four local assemblies, our interlocutor says that would also be a step towards calming the situation.

"I hope that we will reach the 50% threshold and have the dismissal of mayors, but that is just one part of the process. We know that according to Kosovo laws, municipal assemblies have much greater authority, and any important decision for North Mitrovica or any other municipality is made by the assemblies on the proposal of the mayor or some councilor. A small step in calming the situation would be if the councilors, which I doubt, resigned, and we had new comprehensive elections. Then we would get a more realistic picture through the assemblies, in line with the percentage of the population living in the north, as it was before November 7, 2022," Radakovic says.