The United States Embassy in Kosovo said the referendum to dismiss ethnic Albanian mayors in four northern Serb-majority municipalities was carried out legally and the incumbent mayors will remain in place, as Serbs chose to boycott the vote en masse.

“The QUINT countries and the EU called on Lista Srpska and other Kosovo Serb political actors on April 10 to reconsider their positions and withdraw from participating in this legal vote on the withdrawal of citizens. We regret that they did not do such a thing and therefore did not fully utilise the democratic means available to them under Kosovar law to advance effective and representative democracy,” the statement said.

The US Embassy continued that “there is no decision by the voters to recall the mayors. The current mayors of the municipalities have been elected and remain in their positions according to the legal framework of Kosovo.”

In December 2022, ethnic Serbs resigned en masse from government institutions, including all local government structures. New elections were called, but Serbs, particularly the Serb political party Serb List, chose to boycott them at the request of Belgrade, meaning Albanians were elected with a 3.4% turnout.

Serbs then held widespread protests to prevent the newly-elected mayors from taking their positions in the local municipalities. When Kosovo responded by pushing forward and increasing police presence, the protests resulted in violence and the injury of KFOR peacekeeping troops, journalists, and citizens.

Since then, Serbs have called for removing the Albanian mayors, supported by calls from the EU and US to hold a new vote. Kosovo announced a referendum would be held, in which 50% plus one vote of the eligible electorate would result in the Central Election Commission calling a new local election.

But Serb List announced they would boycott this vote as well, and pressure increased on local Serbs not to vote despite them calling for it for almost a year.

By the time the vote ended, only around 1% of the population had voted in North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok, and Leopsavic.

Kreshniq Radoniqi, chairman of Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC), confirmed the results after the polling stations closed on Sunday evening.

“All 23 voting centres were closed at 19:00; according to the data we received in these four municipalities, the number of citizens who voted in the voting process for or against the removal of the mayors from their position is as follows:

Leposaviq 124 voters, Zubin Potok 18 voters, Zveçan did not vote, and in North Mitrovica 111 voters”, said Radoniqi.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Albin Kurti told reporters that “the number of people that call for the resignation of your president [Aleskander Vucic] far exceeds those calling for the resignation of our mayors in northern Kosovo.”

He posted on X that a year after local elections were held in the north, resulting in mayors being elected with a low voter turnout, a new vote was held whereby each step of the process to make the vote possible was undertaken by the government.

He continued, “The vote was boycotted. Therefore, the minimum legal threshold for the mayors to step down was not reached. Nevertheless, the overall environment was peaceful, and we thank our citizens for this.”

“We hoped for another outcome, but Kosovo has met its obligations,” he said, referencing demands from the West to hold a new vote.

President Vjosa Osmani said citizens had the chance to vote but chose not to take advantage of the opportunity due to pressure from Serbia.

“This mainly happened due to pressure from Belgrade, executed by the Serbian List and illegal criminal structures. Once again, Serbia illegally interfered in another country’s election process. Once again, Vuqiç violated the word he had given to international partners,” she said.

Elbert Krasniqi, the local government minister, called on the EU to lift measures imposed on Kosovo following the escalation of tensions last summer. One demand was to hold a new vote in the four municipalities, and Krasniqi said that Kosovo has done so.

“We provided the infrastructure and the opportunity for citizens to express their democratic will. Lista Serbe and Belgrade, on the other hand, once again ordered the boycott of the voting process in the four northern municipalities – despite calls not to do such a thing by the international community,” said Krasniqi.

Serb List, whose former vice-president Milan Radoicic is on the run from an Interpol arrest warrant over his admission he led the 24-September ‘terrorist attack’ in north Kosovo, said the vote was just a show.

“”We want to clearly reiterate that we were more than willing to participate in this process to look back and replace these fake mayors in our municipalities, but we did not want to play games directed by the regime in Pristina,” the statement said.

(Alice Taylor | Euractiv.com)

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