Voter turnout for municipal elections held in northern Kosovo reached 3.4 percent, the Central Election Commission of Kosovo announced. Similar information was given by the office of the Serbian government for Kosovo. The head of the Office, Petar Petkovic, reported that out of a total of 45,095 registered voters, 1,566 Albanians and only 13 ethnic Serb voters came to vote. "Albin Kurti (former Prime Minister of Kosovo) and all those who have been calling for months for elections to take over the north of Kosovo have experienced a fiasco and the real winner is the Serbian people who boycotted these elections. It is also a defeat for that part of the international community that supported Kurti in organizing the elections. Petar Petkovic said at a press conference. He emphasized that "the mass abstention is a sign of the unity of the Serbs but also of their determination not to take a single step towards normalizing relations with Pristina if the Union of Serbian Municipalities is not established".
polling stations in northern Kosovo closed at 19:00 local time (20:00 Greek time) and there were no problems during the election process. Municipal elections in northern Kosovo were held in the Serb-majority municipalities of North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvečan and Zubin Potok. In these municipalities, in November 2022, during the license plate crisis, all Serbs left the local government bodies. The Serbian parties, at the urging and support of Belgrade, decided not to participate in the elections. The Serbs of Kosovo are asking Pristina to first implement the commitment it made in 2013, with the Brussels Agreement, to establish the Union of Serbian Municipalities, and then to hold elections.
Source: APE-MPE
