The Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo — North Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zvečan, and Zubin Potok — voted on Thursday to withdraw from the Association of Kosovo Municipalities, as they seek to become part of a separate association of Serb-majority municipalities in the country.

This decision comes after Srpska Lista — the largest Kosovo Serb party backed by Serbia — regained power in these four municipalities following the October local elections.

The new mayors from this party had announced in early December that they would review the decisions taken by the previous Albanian mayors.

They warned of a “thorough review of the inherited legal and financial situation, so that in the coming period decisions will be made in accordance with the law and in the best interest of citizens.”

The Mayor of North Mitrovica, Millan Radojević, justifying the request to withdraw from the Association of Kosovo Municipalities, said that this had never been the wish of the Serb population in the municipality and that it was a “political decision.”

North Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zvečan, and Zubin Potok were led by Albanian mayors from May 2023 until the October 2025 elections, after representatives of Srpska Lista resigned in November 2022 as part of a collective initiative by Serbs to abandon Kosovo institutions in protest against decisions by the Kosovo government.

Under the leadership of the Albanian mayors, these municipalities joined the Association of Kosovo Municipalities in the summer of 2023.