North mayors take oath without state symbols (All monitored broadcasters, KTV)
On Saturday evening, inauguration sessions in Serb majority municipalities in north Kosovo were held. Signing ceremonies of solemn oath of office statements took place behind closed doors and in environments where Kosovo state symbols were not displayed. Some Albanian municipal assembly counsellors who signed solemn statements said that there were no state symbols in the environments where the statements were signed. They did not accept to talk to KTV.
Nebojsa Vlajic, one of north Serb representatives, said that the documents that were used in the inauguration did not contain symbols. According to him, the top part of the statements was covered by a sticky paper which made it impossible to see what was written under it, and thus the oath was status neutral.
The oath of office was signed by mayors of Zvecan/Zveçan, Leposavic/Leposaviq, and Zubin Potok, but not by the north Mitrovica/Mitrovicë mayor Krstimir Pantic.
Minister for Kosovo in the Serbian Government Aleksander Vulin said that Pantic’s action was no longer relevant. “I suppose that CEC will interpret the case so that the elections should be repeated, which is not something we needed at this time,” Vulin said.
On the other hand, Oliver Ivanovic thinks that there is no crisis, since the Assembly has already been inaugurated.
Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Edita Tahiri stated that they would wait for the final report of the Ministry of Local Government Administration (MLGA). She highlighted that besides international representatives, the inauguration ceremony was also attended by MLGA officials. Tahiri said that also the decision regarding Pantic’s refusal would be made after the final report is received.
Drecun: North municipal assemblies were inaugurated under Kosovo’s neutral status (Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)
Inauguration of north municipal assemblies happened under Kosovo’s neutral status, in which framework the Brussels agreement was also reached,” said Milovan Drecun, chairman of the Council for Kosovo in the Serbian Assembly. He called on Prishtinë/Pristina to accept it, and not try to manipulate.
“Recently we are trapped by Prishtinë/Pristina, which is trying to tell the Albanian public that the Brussels Agreement is not bad for them and for Kosovo’s declared independence,” Drecun highlighted.
Merovci: Mayoral elections in north Mitrovica should be repeated (Klan Kosova)
Former chief of the Central Elections Commission (CEC) Adnan Merovci believes that early mayoral elections need to be called in north Mitrovica/Mitrovicë, since the elected mayor Krstimir Pantic refused to take oath within the legal deadline.
Furthermore, according to Merovci, the procedures used for establishment of four local governments in north are non-democratic and illegal.
Merovci thinks that Kosovo should amend more legal provisions, in order not to encounter such situations later on. According to him, drafting the status of north municipalities will be more challenging for the state of Kosovo than the current situation.
