Goran Rakič, chairman of the Lista Srpska, the main political entity of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo, said on Friday that his party, which has the support of Belgrade, is ready to participate in the new local elections in the north of Kosovo.
He said during a media conference in North Mitrovica that the party made this decision in cooperation with the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.
Rakič emphasized that now “the ball has moved to Pristina’s court”, and that he expects new elections to be called as soon as possible in the northern municipalities of Kosovo.
The four Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, North Mitrovica, Zveçan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic, are led by Albanian mayors who took office after the troubled April elections, which were boycotted and bitterly opposed by local Serbs, causing tensions in the region.
Kosovo, after facing punitive measures from the EU, pledged to reorganize the elections, but wants to do so only through an administrative instruction which enables citizens to dismiss the mayors of the municipalities through a petition.
On September 13, the Minister of Local Government of Kosovo, Elbert Krasniqi, said that the resignation of the Albanian mayors of the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo “is only a request of Belgrade”, insisting that the mayors can leave their offices only through administrative instructions.
But since then, the situation has only become more tense, as the Kosovo Police was attacked on September 24 by a group of armed Serbs in the village of Banjské in Zveçan, where Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku was killed, and later the then vice-president of Lista Srpska, Milan Radojčič took responsibility for the attack.
Kosovo has accused Serbia of trying to “annex the entire north of Kosovo”, which Serbia has denied.
On October 12, the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, called on the representatives of the Serbs in the north of Kosovo to initiate the holding of new elections in North Mitrovica, Zvečan, Leposavić and Zubin Potok.
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