Starting today, citizens in North Mitrovica and Leposavic can sign a petition to remove the mayors from the ranks of the Albanian community.

The collection of signatures began at 09:00.

In North Mitrovica, the petition was initiated after municipal assembly members approved the initiator’s request to conduct the signature collection in the sports hall in this predominantly Serbian-inhabited municipality in north Kosovo.

Meanwhile, in Leposavic, according to one of the petition initiators, permission has been obtained to use the space in front of the municipality for the signature collection.

One of the petition’s initiators in North Mitrovica, announced through the media that citizens should bring the necessary documents to sign the petition. She urged citizens to sign the request for the removal of the current mayor of the municipality, also calling on directors of institutions funded by Serbia and employees of these institutions residing in North Mitrovica to bring their IDs and sign the petition.

According to some sources from Radio Free Europe, such signature collection calls have been sent to employees of the Clinical Hospital Center in North Mitrovica, teachers, employees of municipal institutions operating under the Serbian system, as well as those who left Kosovo’s institutions in 2022 but are now paid by Serbia’s budget.

Radio Free Europe has learned that leaders of parallel institutions have told employees who are on winter vacation and are not in North Mitrovica that they can sign the petition until January 21.

Next week, the signature collection is expected to begin in Zvecan and Zubin Potok.

The mayors in the four municipalities in north Kosovo, predominantly inhabited by Serbs – North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan, and Zubin Potok – are Albanians, as Serb parties and population boycotted the local elections last year.

Signatures for their removal are now being collected based on the Administrative Instruction of the Government of Kosovo, approved in early September 2023.

For the petition to be successful, at least 20 percent of the signatures from the total registered voters must be collected.

According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), in North Mitrovica, at least 3,640 signatures are required to remove the mayor, as 18,199 eligible voters are registered on the voter list.

In the municipality of Leposavic, 13,441 people have the right to vote, meaning at least 2,689 of them must sign the petition for the mayor’s removal.

In Zubin Potok, at least 1,347 voters must respond to the petition, which is 20 percent of the 6,732 registered voters.

And in Zvecan, the petition must be signed by at least 1,411 people for it to be successful.

According to the Administrative Instruction for the removal of the municipality’s leader, a group of citizens, after obtaining authorization to use a public area or place to start a petition, have 30 days to collect signatures for the mayor’s removal. This deadline can be extended only once for up to 15 days.

However, the Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, stated last week that citizens of North Mitrovica, Leposavic, and Zubin Potok have until December 22 to collect signatures. He added that the deadline for Zvecan residents is longer by about five days due to the CEC submitting the request for the exact number of registered voters later.

If the CEC confirms that the collected signatures are sufficient and verifies them, a vote is then organized for the mayor’s removal, which must be held within 45 days. For this vote to be successful, 50 percent plus one vote of eligible voters is required.

After that, the result is sent to the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, who has a legal deadline of 30 to 45 days to announce the holding of early elections.

The assumption of Albanian mayors in the northern municipalities triggered tensions at the end of last May, tensions that culminated in Zvecan as Serbian protesters clashed with NATO’s peacekeeping mission members in Kosovo, KFOR.

The international community has called for the reduction of tensions and the announcement of new elections in the four municipalities in north Kosovo.