The Government of Kosovo has called on the Serb List not to spread misinformation and not to put pressure on the citizens of the Serbian community in the north of Kosovo “who want to be part of the democratic process of April 21”.<\/p>\n
According to an Administrative Instruction of the Government of Kosovo, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has set for April 21 the vote for the dismissal of the Albanian mayors in the municipalities with a Serbian majority: North Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zve\u00e7an and Zubin Potok.<\/p>\n
This vote was preceded by the collection of signatures for the petition regarding the replacement of the Albanian mayors of these municipalities, who were elected and took office in May, after the Serbs boycotted the elections of April last year.<\/p>\n
The petition was also supported by the Serb List, but on April 7, this party, which is the main party of the Serbs in Kosovo and enjoys the support of Belgrade, said that it will not participate in the voting process “because the prime minister of Kosovo, [Albin] Kurti has done everything to prevent the process from being successful.”<\/p>\n
“It [the April 21 vote] is the result of the request and signatures collected by citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, residents of these four municipalities. The administrative instruction that foresees the possibility of removing the mayors of the municipalities, respects the political will of the citizens”, said the Government of Kosovo through a response sent to Radio Free Europe.<\/p>\n
The Kosovar executive called on the citizens in the municipalities in the north, inhabited by a majority of Serbs, to use the opportunity and their right to vote for or against the removal of the four Albanian mayors.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Serb List, Zlatan Elek, claimed on Sunday that there are close to 46,000 eligible voters, but the situation on the ground is different because in recent months, about 15 percent of Serbs have left. In this way, he hinted that the April 21 vote cannot be successful as it is required that 50 percent plus one vote from the total number of registered voters vote for the dismissal of the mayor.<\/p>\n
He added that the voter lists “do not reflect the real situation on the ground” and that the number of Albanians on the voter lists has increased”, but Elek did not present any evidence for this claim.<\/p>\n
“With their actions, they are proving that they do not have the interests of the citizens in focus. Private citizens have not benefited from the methods of the Serb List and the official Belgrade, on the contrary”, it was said in the response sent by the Government of Kosovo.<\/p>\n
According to the guidelines, approved in September of last year, for this vote to be successful, 50 percent, plus one vote of citizens with the right to vote, is needed.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
If the vote is unsuccessful, a new initiative can be taken again after 12 months.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Government of Kosovo has called on the Serb List not to spread misinformation and not to put pressure on the citizens of the Serbian community in the north of Kosovo “who want to be part of the democratic process of April 21”. According to an Administrative Instruction of the Government of Kosovo, the Central […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":68430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,1803],"tags":[150,243,151,2268],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n