Serbia extends deadline for selecting new health workers in Kosovo ahead of new elections

2025-11-27 16:03:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Serbia extends deadline for selecting new health workers in Kosovo ahead of new

Several Serbian political parties in Kosovo, which won seats in municipal assemblies in several Serb-majority municipalities in the October elections, have opposed the decision of the Serbian Ministry of Health to extend until January 15 of next year the competition for the selection of new employees in its institutions operating in Serbian environments in Kosovo.

We are talking about a competition for several hundred new jobs, which, before everyone and on the eve of the local elections of October 12 in Kosovo, was announced by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vu?i?, himself, saying that "the state of Serbia cares for the Serbian community in Kosovo."

Now, the extension of the deadline for selecting workers is justified by the large number of candidates submitted.

Meanwhile, only the Serbian List has the support of official Belgrade, which won all ten municipalities with a Serb majority in the local elections, while in the parliamentary elections in February it received nine of the ten mandates reserved for the Serb community.

New early parliamentary elections in Kosovo will be held on December 28, after the Vetevendosje Movement, the party that received the most votes in the February elections, but not enough to form the Government alone, failed to secure the support of other parties to form the new institutions.

Thus, the extension of the deadline for the selection of workers in Serbian health institutions in Kosovo will coincide with the pre-election campaign.

For this reason, Aleksandar Arsenijevic's Serbian Democracy has condemned this decision, calling on the leaders of health institutions not to act "according to party orders and pre-election calculations, but to work in the interests of their community."

We recall that the director of the Clinical Hospital Center in North Mitrovica is the leader of the Serbian List, Zlatan Ellek, but members of the Serbian List are also in leadership positions in other health institutions.

For example, the director of the Family Medicine Center in Gracanica, Mirjana Dimitrijevic, was a candidate for MP in the February elections from the Serbian List.

In its statement, the Serbian Democracy recalled that it is not the first time that citizens have been "deceived into supporting the leaders of the Serbian List."

"The same scenario has been repeated for years - promises, manipulations, pressures - and the result is continued agony," the statement said.

On the eve of the parliamentary elections in February this year, Serbia also had a competition open for healthcare institutions in Kosovo, but it was canceled after protests over "lack of transparency" and "party-based hiring of suitable people."

The same scenario is repeated in almost every election campaign, when the Serbian List promises jobs, housing, or other benefits from the Serbian budget.

Milija Biševac, leader of the Serbian People's Movement, has also criticized the decision to extend the deadline for selecting workers in Serbian health institutions, saying that the jobs are being held as a "tool for blackmailing citizens in the upcoming elections," and that in the end, the jobs are taken by relatives or "loyalists" of the Serbian List.

Goran Marinkovi?'s Kosovo Alliance has also reacted, assessing that this is a "misuse of the people".

Eugen Cakolli from the Democratic Institute of Kosovo previously stated to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that "the illegal activities of Serbian institutions in Kosovo have clear political implications during the election campaign."

According to him, the timing and the message being sent raise suspicions that we are dealing with an attempt "for coordinated influence on voters."

Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, accused Serbia in October of interfering in local elections in Kosovo by promising jobs and financial benefits.

He has called for the European Union to condemn Belgrade's interference in the elections in Kosovo and to sanction Serbia for this.

The European Union has not provided any concrete response to these accusations, but has said that all citizens should be able to exercise their right to vote freely, without external interference and manipulation./ REL