Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo will not vote in the next municipal elections, announced Aleksandar Vucic, president of Serbia on Friday, which is expected to exacerbate the ongoing disputes over Pristina's administration.
In November 2022, local Serb authorities, administrative workers, judges, and police officers jointly resigned in protest against Pristina's proposal to swap out Serbian license plates with ones from Kosovo. After Serbs blocked highways and border crossings in December 2022, the elections for local organizations were postponed.
The four bordering Serbian towns assert that Belgrade is their capital rather than Pristina since they do not recognize Pristina's authority. Before they participate in the election, representatives of Kosovo Serbs from the north, notably the Serbian List party supported by Belgrade, want to see an association of Kosovo Serb towns established.
After meeting with Serb delegates from northern Kosovo, Vucic remarked, "We agreed to continue working together so that we could issue a joint statement about the elections that someone scheduled for April 23, in which Srpska Lista is not participating."
An agreement last month between the European Union, Serbia, and Kosovo, aiming to normalize ties between Belgrade and Pristina, included the establishment of such an organization as a fundamental component.
Albin Kurti, the prime minister of Kosovo, has urged Serbs to vote on Thursday. "The right of the Serbian community to freely vote is essential. Anyone who continues to violate this fundamental right has nothing to expect other than the force of law," he emphasized.
EU-sponsored negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade have lasted over 10 years. Almost 10 years after a conflict that ended Serbian control, Kosovo declared independence in 2008.
Serbia still views Kosovo as a separatist province, and frequent outbursts between the two have raised concerns of a resumption of hostilities.
