The election process in municipalities with Serb majority did not meet European standards of democratic elections, stated EU Heads of Missions, KIM Radio reported.

Although EU Heads of Missions are pleased that based on the report of the EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) elections were held in a peaceful and regular manner in most of the places, they noticed with concern that pre-election campaign in the Serb areas in Kosovo was marked with intimidations, KIM Radio further said.

Central Election Commission (CEC) has ordered the recount of 24 ballot boxes from Sunday’s local elections, announced CEC officials today. Of 24 boxes, 21 contain ballots for municipal assemblies and 3 for mayoral elections. CEC said it has received 7,621 ballots through post and that 6,735 have been approved.

Chief of the EU Election Observation Mission, Alojz Peterle, said in a press conference today that Sunday’s local elections in Kosovo took place in a peaceful atmosphere and were free of major incidents. Some of the recurring problems however include outdated voters’ lists which continue to have names of deceased people.

Competitive and well-administered elections in most of Kosovo, while deep concerns persist over the democratic process in Kosovo Serb areas

The Chief Observer, Mr Alojz Peterle, Member of the European Parliament, presented today the preliminary findings of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) on the 22 October Municipal and Mayoral Elections in Kosovo.

"Bearing in mind part of the preliminary results released by the CEC and some of the results we have taken from other political options, we seriously doubt the regularity of counting votes in many polling stations," the CI Central Kosovo said in a statement.

CI Central Kosovo suspects falsification of election results, reports KIM radio.

The situation on the election day was calm, KFOR announcement said, KIM Radio reported.

“KFOR in line with its mandate, deriving from the UN SC Resolution 1244, contributed to the safe and secure environment and the freedom of the movement, overseeing the situation in close cooperation with the international community, the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe, Kosovo police and the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo,” the announcement further said.

“With its convincing victory, Srpska Lista once again showed it enjoys the trust of almost all Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija,” a mayor of Mitrovica North and President of Srpska Lista, Goran Rakic said to KIM Radio.

Rakic also thanked all citizens who voted for the Srpska Lista mayoral and municipal assemblies’ candidates.

“This success is a success of the Serb people. These votes once again confirmed that Serbs trust to their state Serbia and their President, Aleksandar Vucic”.

“Srpska Lista was not our opponent, our opponent was the entire Government of Serbia with all its resources. When you take that into consideration, our result is not that bad,” leader of the Civic Initiative Freedom, Democracy, Justice (GI SDP) Oliver Ivanovic said to KIM Radio.

According to the preliminary results Ivanovic won 1.462 votes in Mitrovica North, more respectively 18.98 percent.

The Serb (Srpska) List has declared victory in Sunday's local elections in all municipalities with a Serb majority in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbian media reported.

According to the Serb List and the preliminary results, its leader and candidate for mayor of northern Kosovska Mitrovica Goran Rakic has also won convincingly.

"There will be a runoff, but in four years," said Rakic.

Serbian Minister of Defence, Aleksandar Vulin congratulated victory of Srpska Lista in municipalities with Serb majority, in local Kosovo elections, Tanjug news agency reported.

“The victory of Srpska Lista is an evidence that nothing and no one can stay between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija,” Vulin said.

He also pointed out that Serbs in Kosovo listened to their President Aleksandar Vucic, their fathers and their children and firmly remained with their Serbia, Serbian media reported.