Serbs in north Kosovo boycott local elections

Serbian List, the main political party in northern Kosovo's serb-dominated region, called on Serbs to not vote on Sunday.

"Except for very rare cases, Serbs boycott the elections," a central election commission official, who declined to be identified, said on Sunday.

Before they can vote, Serbia and Kosovo Serbs demand the creation of an Association of Kosovo Serb Municipalities, as per a decade old EU-brokered agreement with the Kosovo Government in Pristina.

The central election commission, fearing violence, abandoned plans to install voting booths in school and instead installed mobile huts in 13 locations. NATO troops from Latvia, Italy and more than 3,000 peacekeeping forces in Kosovo patrolled the roads near voting areas.

Zubin Potok is a municipality that is inhabited mostly by Serbs. Election officials were ready to respond if any voters arrived.

It was reported that an official of the Zubin Potok election commission, who declined to be named, said: "We have to keep our doors open, whether anyone votes or not."

The voting booths were guarded with Albanian police officers who had been brought in from different regions. This was after 500 Serb officers of the police, administrative staff and judges collectively resigned last November over Kosovo's plans to replace Serbian license plates with Kosovo ones.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. This was after the 1998-1999 war, in which NATO intervened in order to protect the ethnic Albanian minority. However, Serbia has refused to recognise independence, and Kosovo's Serbs see themselves as being part of Serbia, and consider Belgrade as their capital, and not Pristina.

Around 50,000 Serbs live in northern Kosovo. Pristina verbally agreed with Belgrade on March 18 to implement a Western backed plan to improve ties and reduce tensions in the northern Kosovo by giving local Serbs more autonomy, while Pristina was given ultimate control. Serbs, however, say that the agreement is yet to be implemented.

"Democracy through force?" Jovan Knezevic is a Serbian from North Mitrovica. He said he wouldn't be voting. He said that the Serbian community was not consulted about whether local elections were to be held. He said that there must be a compromise and an agreement.

Albanians are the majority in Kosovo, but a minority in the North.

After another Serb resigned, only one Serb was among the 10 candidates who ran in the Sunday elections.

Albin Kurti, the newly elected Kosovo Prime Minister, said that Belgrade intimidated Serbs in the north to not participate in the election.

Last week, the European Union and United States expressed their disappointment that the Serbs had decided to not participate in the election.

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