The Kosovo Albanians will fill the void left by the Serbs
The elections will be held almost Sunday without Serbs in the northern part of Kosovo, which is inhabited by the Serb minority. Citizens with voting rights must elect successors to mayors who have previously resigned in response to Pristina leadership actions. The largest Serbian group, the Serbian List (SL), has called for a boycott. Dusan Janjic prof v4naRegarding the elections, he stated that
Pristina wants to avoid having to deal with the vacuum left by the withdrawal of the Serb minority and is trying to avoid negotiations with Serbia on how to solve the problem.
According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Relations Forum, the Kosovo leadership wants to increase its support at the local political level. “They want to increase the popularity of the current prime minister, head of state and the self-determination movement,” the expert added.
Janjic stressed that it is also important for them to strengthen their positions in the dialogue with Belgrade, especially with regard to the establishment of the Serbian Community of Municipalities and its powers. That is why it is important for them to maintain a constant state of conflict. The analyst noted: From a foreign policy point of view, the government in Pristina is also striving to show Washington that Prime Minister Albin Kurti is an indispensable partner.
The absence of Serbian candidates will result in a very low turnout for a small percentage of the electorate. The Belgrade leadership also sharply criticized the international community for agreeing to and supporting the vote. Regarding the elections in Kosovo, President Aleksandar Vucic said as a guest on Prva TV:
It will be a difficult day for the Serbian people and a terrible day for democracy
The Serbian Head of State emphasized: This is the vote Europe He will be ashamed.
The new management will expect greater loyalty
As a result of Sunday’s vote, there will be new mayors, however, who will not be able to create their own administration, but they will have serious power, and they will be able to rely mainly on the central budget and support from the Kosovo Police to do their job. The analyst explained that the local population would face an increasingly difficult fate and, in exchange for financial resources, would be required to be loyal to Pristina.
In general, more despondency, stress, and accidents are to be expected
Dusan Janic has assessed the possible consequences of the current elections. The expert emphasized: This is why the current local elections are expected to be repeated in the northern part of Kosovo within a very short period of time, and an extraordinary national vote is even possible.
Speaking about the role of the international community, he said: The countries of Quinte (the United States of America, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France) currently have neither the will nor the ability to formulate a unified policy on this issue. As a compromise, it was only possible to postpone the elections, to discuss further negotiations or to get away from reality. Their direct responsibility lies in the fact that they did not heed the existing institutional and security vacuum. Above all, the expert said, they refused to negotiate on security issues.
Asked when we can expect the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, Dusan Cancic replied that it is a much longer road than what is presented to the public.
He added that there is a risk of distorting the credibility of the Brussels dialogue and the role of the European Union in it. If this happens, the goal remains, but another framework must be found to normalize the relationship.
The goal of both the Serbian and Kosovo leaderships is to retain power. This is the red line for them. Precisely for this reason, Janjic said, one side maintains that it will never recognize Kosovo’s independence, while the other side insists that it will not establish a Serbian community of municipalities.
As we wrote earlier, special elections will be held on Sunday in four municipalities: in the northern part of Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Leposavic and Zvexa. According to the Serbian press, since the Serbian list is boycotting, there is a real chance that the people of Prime Minister Albin Kurti will come to power in the regions inhabited by the Serb minority.
