The members of the Serbian List resign from the MECs in the north

2024-04-08 16:01:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Four members of the Municipal Electoral Commissions (MEC) from the Lista Serbe party have resigned from these positions in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, the spokesperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Valmir Elezi, confirmed for Radio Free Europe.

"In the past meetings, the CEC has operationalized the Municipal Election Commissions in these four municipalities, appointing the four executive officers, who are also the chairpersons of the MEC, and has made a decision on the appointment of 27 members, who represent the subjects parliamentary politics", said Elezi.

He added that according to the Law on general elections, the MEC administers the elections within the respective municipality, under the exclusive supervision and instructions of the CEC.

The announcement of the resignation of MEC members from the Serbian List comes a day after this party - which is the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo and has the support of Belgrade - said that it will not participate in the vote for the dismissal of the Albanian presidents in the four municipalities with Serbian majority in the north of Kosovo.

The votes for the dismissal of the mayors of Zveçan, Leposaviq, Zubin Potok and North Mitrovica are scheduled to be held on April 21.

"The position of the Serbian List is not to participate in the referendum called by Albin Kurti [Prime Minister of Kosovo], because he did everything for it to fail," said the chairman of the Serbian List, Zlatan Elek, on Sunday at a press conference in North Mitrovica.

He said that "impracticable procedures" have been established for the April 21 vote and that the voter lists "do not reflect the real situation on the ground" and that the number of Albanians on the voter lists "has increased".

The CEC decided that the vote will be held on April 21, after verifying the citizens' signatures on the petitions for the dismissal of the mayors of municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north of Kosovo.

The signatures were collected in mid-January in accordance with an administrative instruction issued by the Government of Kosovo, in order to pave the way for the announcement of early elections in the northern municipalities, because the local Serbian population has not accepted the Albanian mayors. .

According to the guidelines, approved in September of last year, for this vote to be successful, 50 percent, plus one vote of citizens with the right to vote, is needed.

After that, the result is sent to the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, who has a legal deadline of 30 to 45 days to announce the holding of early elections.

The Albanian mayors of the four municipalities in the north were elected in April 2023, in the elections which were boycotted by the Serbs as a sign of dissatisfaction with the policies of the Government of Kosovo.

The start of their mandate was followed by protests and tensions in May of last year, which culminated in a fight between protesters and members of the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, in Zveçan on May 29./ REL