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Kosovo: Preparatory work for the elections in the north begins

2023-08-04 08:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Minister of Local Government, Elbert Krasniqi, clarified that the working group has one month to draft a document that will enable the citizens of the municipalities in the north to dismiss the current mayors through public consultations and a petition of citizens registered with the right vote in the respective municipalities. According to him, this document is expected to determine the rules on how the petition can be organized, which must express the will of 20 percent of the voters of a municipality in order to succeed.

Open for reducing tensions

According to the Law on Local Self-Government, early elections for mayor can be held in the event that the current mayor resigns, in the event that citizens demand the dismissal of the mayor through a petition signed by 20 percent of the voters of the respective municipality, as well as in case the mayor does not appear at the workplace for more than a month, without reason.

Kosovo: Preparatory work for the elections in the north begins

Minister Krasniqi says that Albanian mayors in Serbian-majority municipalities cannot be asked to resign, but according to him, "they can do so by individual decision".

" The petition is an expression of the will of 20 percent of the voting body of a municipality. If in a certain municipality the citizens of that municipality manage to have 20 percent of the voting body with the request that the mayor of the municipality leave, then it will it is treated as a request, if there is not then this remains there, the mayors continue their work in the municipality ", said Minister Krasniqi.

PDK: The best resignation option

One of the biggest opposition parties in the assembly, PDK, has assessed as wrong the initiative for the leaders of the north to leave through the petition. The chairman of the PDK, Memli Krasniqi, said that the option of the chairman's resignation is better in this case.

"Personally, I consider it wrong to seek the path of the petition of 20 percent of those who are on the list of voters, which paves the way for the referendum that would have to be passed by more than 50 percent of the voters for the dismissal of the presidents. This is for two reasons, the first one that has no clear legal basis. Because Kosovo has never passed the law on the referendum. And the second one, I don't believe that we should create a political tradition where certain ethnic communities in Kosovo can achieve the goals of their political through the referendum ", said PDK chairman Memli Krasniqi.

Steps to expand the situation in the north

The development of new elections in the north of Kosovo is one of the main steps to reduce the tensions that erupted in the north after the Albanian mayors who came out of the April 23 elections boycotted by the Serbs, were sent to the offices of the northern municipalities with the support of police units . This followed the strong reaction of the local Serbs, where there were also clashes with the peacekeeping forces of KFOR, where more than 30 soldiers were injured. The European Union seeks to reduce tensions through a plan that foresees the suspension of police operations in the north, the relocation of mayors to alternative offices and the announcement of early elections, where the unconditional participation of Kosovo Serbs is foreseen.

Kosovo: Preparatory work for the elections in the north begins

The Government of Kosovo has agreed on the first steps to reduce tensions, reducing by 25% the presence of police units in municipal buildings in the north. According to local government experts, there are two ways to enable the announcement of new elections in the north; through the resignations of the current mayors and through citizens' petitions.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said last week that the institutions are preparing for the holding of the elections, but according to him, the elections in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo cannot be held without the situation being fully escalated. Even representatives of the Serbian List, which is the main political entity of the Kosovo Serbs, have said that without the escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo, it is meaningless to talk about new elections./ REL