Elections in Kosovo: legitimizing separatism and making ethnic purge real

The October 22 municipal elections in unrecognized Kosovo on do not meet the Constitution of Serbia, and participation of Serbian candidates in them just provides legitimacy to the separatist authorities in Pristina. Representatives of the Serbian community residing in Kosovo and Metohija made such statements to EADaily.

Marko Jakšić, a member of Presidium of Fatherland People’s Movement of Kosovo and Metohija Serbs, has told EADaily that the separatist authorities in Pristina organized the elections on the basis of the legislation of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosovo” and not the constitution of Serbia.

“For instance, imagine that the Catalan government organizes municipal elections and the Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy sends Spanish ministers to urge Spanish citizens to vote in the municipal elections in Catalonia. These are separatist elections that do not meet the Constitution of Serbia, since the Serbian parliament did not announce those elections,” Jakšić said.

He is sure that participation of the Kosovan Serbs in the municipal elections in Kosovo infringes the state and national interests of Serbia, since it legitimizes the separatist authorities in Pristina. “These elections drive Kosovo and Metohija even farther from Serbia and pave the way towards establishment of another Alban state in the Balkans,” he said.

According to Jakšić, it is extremely important for the Kosovan authorities that Serbs recognize the unilateral state formation called “Republic of Kosovo.”

“This will not bring anything good to Serbs residing there, since they seek to be part of Serbia’s legal system, and not of that of the self-proclaimed ‘Republic of Kosovo’,” he said.

Political representative of Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija, former Štrpce Municipal President Zvonko Mihajlović, in turn, said only those Serbs participated in the past elections who can be described as motivated by greed and desire to get influence.

“Such people do not care about the methods of coming to power. They are not ashamed of anything and can even unite with those who committed war crimes against Serbs, and the Republic of Serbia has undisputable proofs of those crimes. The most popular of them are Hashim Thaçi and Ramush Haradinaj. It is even more absurd that such Serbs are considered to be the most reliable partners for Albans, since they fight for their personal interests that are easy to satisfy unlike common ideas and interests,” Mihajlović said.

He calls it tragic that “Belgrade government backs the Alban project and promotes it as its own one.”

Mihajlović said Serbs participated in the municipal elections to strengthen the recently registered Alban government institutions. “Of course, deconstruction of the existing Serbian government institutions in Kosovo will precede that process. Without those institutions, Serbs will hardly survive on that territory. Therefore, the Belgrade government will be directly responsible for ethnic purge of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, which will happen in the foreseeable future,” he told EADaily.

Recall that in mostly Serbian-populated municipalities, the Serbian List Party that was actively supported by the Serbian government won the municipal elections in Kosovo and Metohija, by preliminary data. During the election campaign, representatives of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party in Belgrade said the Serbian List seeks seats in the municipality to provide the Serbian population in Kosovo real instruments to ensure their security and human rights.

After the first vote count, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic congratulated representatives of the Serbian List and residents of Serbian municipalities of Kosovo on their victory. “I congratulate you on that great success…I am proud to see you protecting the right of Serbs to stay in their homes, protecting the interests of Serbia at the same time,” Vucic said.