These resignations were part of a mass resignation of Serbs from Kosovo’s institutions in protest of the arrest of Nenad Đurić, the police director in the north who had refused to implement the government’s recent decision on license plates.

In early December, when Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani announced December 18 as election day in the four municipalities in the north, the local CEC offices were attacked. The arrest of a suspect related to this attack led to the erection of barricades for three weeks. On December 10, President Osmani postponed the elections to April 23, 2023.

In Ohrid on March 18 of this year, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on the normalization of relations as part of an European-led plan. Some saw this as a new opportunity to get out of the political impasse between the two states.

Serbia and Srpska Lista have renewed their demands for the creation of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities, which is a central topic of ongoing negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia.

But the boycott of the local elections by Srpska Lista seems to be creating a new political deadlock.

According to Maliqi, the election boycott is a political strategy to strengthen Serbia’s negotiating position in the dialogue, precisely around the issue of the Association.

“This boycott together with Vučić’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric, through which he denies the validity of the Brussels and Ohrid agreements, show that Vučić is afraid that he is losing his escalating monopoly in Kosovo due to pressure from the West. Now he is trying to regain it by threats,” he said, adding that the failure of the Serbs to vote shows how necessary the normalization process is.

Branislav Krstić, a journalist from North Mitrovica, thinks that the government of Kosovo and the international community missed the right moment to take on Srpska Lista’s power among the Serbs of Kosovo. According to Krstić, if they called on opposition parties to participate in the elections or even on independent Serb activists of the north to vote, it would have been an opportunity to defeat Srpska Lista.

“Unfortunately, at the moment when the Srpska Lista lost the trust of the citizens, Prishtina officials did not seize the moment,” said Krstić. “With the ‘take it or leave it’ conditions, the government only unified the Serbs, so even those who for years were against Srpska Lista and the policies of the Serbian President Vučić’s cabinet, gave up on the electoral process.”

Krstić believes that the boycott was a result of direct instructions received by Srpska Lista from Belgrade. Along with the boycott, Kosovo Serbs were told to ignore “any possible provocation by the Albanians.”

In Krstić’s eyes, these elections have brought together Serbs in the north, a wish of Vučić’s fulfilled. The journalist believes that Vučić is demanding the establishment of the Association and the support of all Kosovo Serbs for Srpska Lista in order to pave the way for the recognition of Kosovo by Serbia.

“‘Zajednica for Serbs, independent state for Albanians’ and more than 80% of Serbs are aware of this epilogue,” said Krstić, who laughingly added that “the Association is the heart of Serbia,” changing the nationalist Serbian expression: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia.”

The election with 3% turnout

Local elections in four Serb-majority municipalities in the north.

Results

Uran Haxha

The election with 3% turnout

Local elections in four Serb-majority municipalities in the north.

Results

Uran Haxha