Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija will participate in central elections, however some issues are still unsettled, the key question is where the votes will be deposited.
Principal agreement was reached about it in the course of last round of dialogue, but teams of Belgrade and Pristina should work out the details considering that Kosovo authorities don’t want Belgrade to organize elections on the territory of Kosovo. In order to demonstrate their ‘statehood’ they will most probably insist that votes are counted out of the territory of the province. Two years ago when parliamentary and presidential elections were held, 35,277 voters from Kosovo have voted at 90 polling stations, and ballot boxes were transported later to Raska (Serbia proper).
Chairperson of the parliament Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun (SNS) believes that campaign will be carried out in the province and that Pristina won’t hinder the process significantly, considering that central elections will follow in Kosovo too.
“Pristina will have to show maximal restraint in creating problems for citizens of Serbian nationality who wish to vote in these elections. They must be able to cast votes since they don’t recognize state of Kosovo and have the right to choose and to be elected,” explained Drecun.
Marko Jaksic (DSS) who is also member of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija opines that it is important where the votes will be counted in the sense of the statehood.
“If it will take place out of the territory of the province, that means that Serbs from Kosovo are voting like, for example, our compatriots in Austria, and that goes to the benefit of Pristina in order to treat Serbs like diaspora. If votes would be counted in Kosovo, that would prove that it is still part of Serbia,” said Jaksic.
“Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija will be able to vote in upcoming Serbian parliamentary elections,” said Minister without portfolio in charge for Kosovo Aleksandar Vulin yesterday, and added that there are various modalities which could be used by OSCE to organize that process. “I believe that it will be like in previous elections,” said Vulin.
