Rapajic: After Self-Determination’s victory in South Mitrovica, cooperation with the north will become even more difficult

The program director of the NGO Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture from North Mitrovica, Aleksandar Rapajic, told Kosovo Online that Albin Kurti counted on the support of Albanians in South Mitrovica and that local voters see him as someone who “united the city”, but that the victory of Self-Determination will inevitably further complicate cooperation with Serbs in the north.

Rapajic points out that the second round of voting shows how much Self-Determination cared about taking power in South Mitrovica.

“In the second round of elections in the southern part, some rather strange things happened, to put it mildly. It was the only municipality where turnout was higher in the second round than in the first, and all of that increased turnout went to Self-Determination. That is a bit strange, considering that it means an increase of more than 10 percent of voters who supported Self-Determination. I cannot use a harsh word, but I think this is quite unusual for an electoral process, since we see that everywhere in the world the number of voters drops in the second round, not rises,” he says.

Commenting on the post-election developments and the ballots that were questioned due to an incorrect serial number, Rapajic says that, from an outside perspective, the entire second round appears rather questionable.

“As for the ballots, it is possible that it was only a technical mistake, as they say. I have no evidence, but the result is so unusual that it suggests it was not purely the will of the people to turn out in greater numbers in the second round,” he adds.

On the other hand, he says, Albin Kurti expected that support for Self-Determination would grow in South Mitrovica after the actions he carried out in the Municipality of North Mitrovica, and that Albanians living there would see him as someone who “opened North Mitrovica and united the city”.

“That is why it was very important for him to win in South Mitrovica, and I think this is why these things are happening with the elections in that municipality,” Rapajic says.

He believes that the victory of Self-Determination, that is, the election of Faton Peci as mayor of South Mitrovica, will inevitably affect the Serbs living in North Mitrovica.

“After the victory of the Serb List, I think that cooperation between North and South Mitrovica will become much more difficult, because Self-Determination has shown itself to be a group that does not want any contact with the Serb List. Because of that, the functioning of the Municipality of North Mitrovica and all the things that need to be coordinated between South and North Mitrovica will be much more complicated. The situation in North Mitrovica is already quite complicated due to people’s employment, due to the institutions that were taken over... all of this will be much harder to resolve with Self-Determination in the southern part,” he says.

He believes that pressure on the Serbian community in the north will continue, but that it will depend much more on the future government.

“I think it depends more on what will happen in the parliamentary elections, what will happen in Pristina, and who will form the government. If Self-Determination forms the government again, it is inevitable that it will continue to pressure the Serbian community and continue with what I would even call anti-Serb actions throughout Kosovo. If some other group forms the government, it might be a bit easier, although even then I am not very optimistic,” Rapajic concludes.