21 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has denounced as “a terrible day for democracy” and “a moment of shame” for Europe the holding of the local elections next Sunday in the north of Kosovo, called after the flagship party of the majority Kosovar Serb community in the region, Lista Serbia, will announce its withdrawal from the institutions.
List Serbia and, practically by extension, the Kosovar Serbs have announced a boycott of these elections, in a new episode of the rise in tension that northern Kosovo has been the scene of since the middle of last year, marked by a crisis of registrations and followed by the erection of barricades against the Kosovar government in protest against what Belgrade describes as a persecution carried out by the security forces and the institutions of Kosovo, where Kosovar Albanians are the majority.
“Sunday is going to be a day that will mark the shame of Europe and the world,” declared Vucic, who once again demanded the immediate declaration of northern Kosovo as the so-called Community of Serb Municipalities, an autonomy status discussed in rapprochement talks between Serbia and Kosovo sponsored by the European Union.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has called on all eligible citizens of the four municipalities that make up northern Kosovo to come out and cast their ballot in a conciliatory gesture, ignored by Kosovo Serb representatives.
In fact, the Serbian president understands that the local elections will only serve to install Kosovar Albanians at the head of the institutions of northern Kosovo, in what will be an “act of true occupation that the Kosovar Serbs will not be willing to accept”.
However, the president has called on the Kosovar Serb population to remain calm and “only show their contempt” during the elections or, as he described them, “the most shameful elections that Europe has ever known”, in statements collected by the chain B92.
