RFE: All Serbian parties are boycotting the local elections in the north of Kosovo

A few days before the deadline, there are no registered parties or candidates for the elections in four Communities of Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo. Apart from the leading party with the support from Belgrade, the Serb List, representatives of the Serbian opposition will not participate in the elections either, RFE reports.

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, announced elections for mayors in North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok for December 18, after the presidents of these municipalities from the Serb List had submitted their resignations. They oppose the implementation of the decision of the Government of Kosovo on the re-registration of vehicles with RKS license plates.

The Serb List, the leading party that has been in power in all ten Serb-majority municipalities since 2013, already announced that it would not have its own candidates in the upcoming elections in the northern municipalities. They also stated that they would not participate in the election process and that citizens supported them.

According to the information of Radio Free Europe, until the publication of this text, no candidacy for the race in the elections on December 18 has been registered with the Central Election Commission (CEC). The deadline for submitting applications for political entities and candidates expires on November 21.

Otherwise, the pre-election campaign will last until December 8 to 16, as determined by the CEC.

"Bad moment" the opposition explained. Previously, in local or parliamentary elections under the system of Kosovo, the opponents of the Serb List were candidates from the Party of Kosovo Serbs, the Civic Initiative "Serbian Survival", the Progressive Democratic Party, and individuals as independent candidates. However, they believe that this time it is impossible to participate in the elections due to the current political situation.

Aleksandar Jablanovic, the leader of the Party of Kosovo Serbs based in Leposavic, told to RFE that the situation on the ground would become even more tense if, on November 21, they started penalizing people who have KM (Kosovska Mitrovica) license plates.

These license plates are issued by Serbian authorities and are illegal according to the Kosovo government. Therefore, the implementation of the re-registration plan for RKS license plates is in force, according to which only warnings will be issued to drivers with those license plates until November 21. After that date, the penalizing phase follows. In the third phase, probationary license plates should be issued, and from April of the following year, only RKS license plates should be used. 

"Under these circumstances, when Serbs, potentially will not be able to use their vehicles freely in the north of Kosovo from November 21, it would be insane to think about elections. We are certainly closer to the option of not participating in those elections at this moment unless in the next two, three, or four days something important changes regarding the attitude of the Government from Pristina towards the local Serbs. I mean the license plates and the existing danger from penalizing people and confiscating their property," Jablanovic said.

'A political agreement is needed to postpone the elections'

Aleksandar Arsenijevic from the Civic Initiative "Serbian Survival" based in North Mitrovica also states that he will not participate in the extraordinary elections for mayors in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo. According to his assessment, at the moment there is no "democratic atmosphere" for a normal election process.

"There are no conditions for holding elections. I state that there is no possibility of organizing a football match in the north, much less an election. We will not participate. We listen to the voice of our citizens, and our citizens have decided that these elections should be boycotted." Arsenijevic said.

And Nenad Rasic, the president of the Progressive Democratic Party based in Gracanica, states that he will not participate in the elections because, as he says, there are no conditions for such a thing. He believes that some political decision must be found to postpone these elections.

"I think this is the worst moment for anything to be initiated regarding the local elections in the north. I have emphasized this several times and said that a way must be found, but so far I have not seen that there is room for something to be done about that. This does not mean that some political decision cannot be made," Rasic says.

Nevertheless, Sladjana Pantovic, who was an independent

 candidate for the mayor of Zvecani in the last local elections in 2021, says that she will participate in the elections again on December 18 - if she manages to collect the necessary 100 signatures.

She estimates that citizens in the north are very scared and are afraid to publicly support her. However, she believes that members of the community of Serbs should not boycott the upcoming elections because, as she says, the north of Kosovo is not made up of the Serb List, but the people.

"If the Serb List resigned, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't participate. After all, we all live together here. If we think about further survival, if we don't participate, I don't know what to hope for," Pantovic says.

She also believes that the members of the community of Serbsmust make their own decisions but also cooperate with Pristina in the interests of all communities.

Representatives of the Serbian opposition in Kosovo generally conclude that the results of the mayoral elections in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo will be debatable if members of the community of Serbs boycott the process. According to their assessment, the elections may be legal but not legitimate because the majority of Serbian political entities will not participate.

It is not yet known how the Central Election Commission will be present in the four municipalities in the north, because their members from the community of Serbs have also resigned. The CEC states that it is dealing with this issue and will soon announce its decision.

The Central Election Commission of Kosovo also announced that the formation of municipal election commissions for local governments in the north: North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan, and Zubin Potok was underway. An invitation was sent to all political entities, which are represented in the Parliament of Kosovo, to submit proposals for the appointment of members of these municipal commissions by November 20.

Until now, all ten guaranteed seats for the community of Serbs in the Kosovo Parliament were held by the Serb List.