Local elections in Medvedja showed that the idea of Albanian parties from southern Serbia on forming a Community of Albanian Municipalities (ZAO) is not possible. Victory of the election list SNS-SPS-PUPS (Progressives, Socialists and Pensioners) and defeat of the Albanian parties showed that Medvedja will not be part of the announced ZAO, which is expected to join the municipalities of Presevo and Bujanovac. According to Blic, the first decision of the new municipal authorities will be that “Medvedja is municipality in Jablanica district of the Republic of Serbia and that ZAO will never exist there.”
Zoran Stankovic, president of the Coordination Body for South Serbia, says for Blic that there is no need to rush. “When the final results of the elections will be known and when the Municipal Assembly of Medvedja will be formed we will decide on further steps,” says Stankovic.
On the other hand, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Kosovo Milovan Drecun says that the ZAO is “virtual creation”. “Medvedja municipality is like any other in Serbia. No one can illegally redraw it. The things done by a group of Albanian MPs in Presevo are unconstitutional,” said Drecun.
Elections have shown the disastrous state of the electoral roll, which has not been updated for more than 20 years. It has 10,465 eligible voters, while according to the latest census from 2011 in Medvedja live 5,500 people with voting rights. Most Albanians who are enrolled in the list do not live in Medvedja, but organized travel from Kosovo in order to vote.
