Kosovo’s citizens will decide whether to replace ethnic Albanian mayors in the country’s Serb-majority north or allow them to continue in office, according to a process underway at the Ministry of Local Government and Administration that is expected to be completed on 1 September.
In November 2022, Serb officials and local government representatives resigned en masse from local institutions over the rollout of requirements for all Kosovo vehicles to display Pristina-issued plates. This would impact some ethnic Serbs in the north with Belgrade-issued plates, who live in Kosovo but refuse to recognise its sovereignty.
Elections were held in April to replace those who resigned, but Serbs refused to participate, or vote, following calls to boycott from Belgrade.
The vote resulted in a less than 4% turnout and mainly ethnic Albanians being elected. When they tried to enter municipal buildings with support from Kosovo police, Serbs responded with protests that escalated into violence and the injury of NATO peacekeeping troops.
The EU has since taken measures against Kosovo over the situation and has insisted the mayors be removed from their positions, police presence be reduced and withdrawn from northern municipalities, and new elections be called.
“As for the elections in the north, it is a process that will be determined in the coming days. As a minister and as a minister, I have covered my responsibility starting with the administrative instruction, which foresees the right of citizens to collect signatures for the removal of mayors from office”, said Minister of Local Government Administration Elbert Krasniqi during a visit to Gjakovë.
The process will see citizens’ afforded the right to collect signatures to call for the removal of the mayors. If 50% of voters, plus one vote, are in favour, the request can be submitted to the Ministry, signed by the minister, and published in the Official Gazette. It is then passed to the relevant institutions, and elections can be held in accordance with the Law on Elections.
“All the steps are foreseen, from the beginning of the procedure, the initiative to the part of sending the petition to the CEC. The CEC organises the voting for removal”, said Besim Myrtezani, head of the working group set up by the ministry to carry out the process.
Krasniqi said that a group of officials have been working on preparing the paperwork since the start of August.
Until now, the minister said that “everything is in order” and that “the work of the working group for drafting the administrative instruction is going well”. He indicated that the officials held two meetings, stressing that “I cannot give any additional details”.
On 26 July, Prime Minister Albin Kurti confirmed preparations were underway for elections in the north after a 10 July agreement with the EU regarding the situation in the north. Just days later, the MLGA started the procedure.
The government agreed that “through a public statement, it supports the holding of early elections in the four municipalities in the north of the country and those after the summer season” and that it “expresses its commitment to ensuring the necessary legal basis to enable the organisation of these elections”.
However, the EU had insisted the current mayors resign so new elections could be held, but Kurti said he cannot force them to do so.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
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