Political parties have until Monday evening to notify the Central Election Commission, CEC, if they will participate in the extraordinary elections in North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok and early elections for the municipal assemblies of two municipalities: Zveçan and Leposavic.

This news was released to Prishtina Insight by the spokesperson of the CEC, Valmir Elezi.

Serbian List, the largest party of Kosovo Serbs, announced on Friday that it will not participate in the extraordinary local elections.

“It is more than clear that Prishtina and its Central Election Commission seek to unilaterally organize elections in the north of Kosovo […] without respecting the legitimate interests of the Serbian people, despite the will of the citizens,” their announcement stated.

The elections will be held on April 23.

As of March 13, CEC has accepted declarations of non-participation in the elections from 11 political parties: Democratic Party of the Diaspora, New Democratic Initiative of Kosovo, Pokret za Gora, Socialdemokratska Unija, Fjala, Party of Ashkali for Integration, Kosovaki Nevi Romani Party, Democratic Party of Unity, the United Goran Party and the Kosovo Democratic Turk Party and the Ballistic Party.

Elezi said that the certified parties are: Mitrovica Civic Initiative, Democratic Party of Kosovo, Kosovskih Srba Party, Sladjana Pantovic (independent candidate) and Vetëvendosje.

The extraordinary elections in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo were held after the mayors of the municipalities, who were from the ranks of the Serbian List, resigned in November last year.

Kosovo Serbs in the north, including police officers and judicial officials, collectively withdrew from Kosovo state institutions in November.

This action was taken as a sign of opposition to the Government of Kosovo’s decision to carry out the process of re-registration of Serbian license plates in Kosovo – a decision which was later suspended following dialogue facilitated by the European Union.

The extraordinary elections for mayors were originally scheduled for December 18, 2022, but were postponed at the request of the international community.