What awaits the winners?

Za "Time" from North Mitrovica

A large number of journalists gathered around half past ten in the evening in front of the headquarters of the Serbian List. We speculated at what time the representatives would Serbian lists (probably) declare victory. It was cold outside, about seven degrees.

In fact, it was expected that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, would tune in to "Pink" television and announce the results in the "Hit Tweet" show. It was around 22:40.

"I want to congratulate the citizens of Serbian nationality Kosovo and Metohija because in nine out of ten Serbian municipalities in the first round, Srpska lista won a convincing majority", said Vučić.

Additionally, Igor Simić, a member of the Serbian List, called Vučić by phone from the headquarters of the Serbian List. At first Vučić asked him "are you at least a little sober", and then he told them that he was proud of them.

"Even though they wrote us off, we managed to fight. They can't abolish the Serbian name and surname and they never will," emphasized the President of Serbia, after which the members of the Serbian List applauded.

Vučić continued: "As you know, I took the blame on myself even when I was not guilty and, on your behalf and in every other way." Then Ivan Zaporozhian, vice-president of the Serbian List, started shouting: "Aco, Serbs!", followed by everyone else. The celebration could begin. Supporters of the Serbian List then entered the party premises and, upon exiting, carried party and Serbian flags. When everything was in place, it started with the "traditional" drive in North Mitrovica, during which party and Serbian flags are waved, shouts are given, three fingers are shown and cars are honked. There were no press questions at the extraordinary press conference. After the end of the conference, the song "Eagle's Nest" sung by Breskvica was heard on the promenade as the finale of the celebration.

SUPPORT FOR THE SERBIAN LIST "A TAS FOR SURVIVAL AND REMAINING"

According to the preliminary results of the Central Election Commission of Kosovo (CEC), candidates for mayors of the Serbian List won in all four municipalities in the north of Kosovo (Leposavić, Zubin Potok, Zvečan and Severna Mitrovica), but also in the municipalities of Novo Brdo, Štrpce, Gračanica, Ranilug and Partes.

Out of a total of 10 municipalities in Kosovo with a Serbian majority, mayors were elected in the first round of elections in nine. The second round will be held in the municipality of Klokot. In the first round, the candidate of the Serbian List, Božidar Dejanović, won 41,62 percent of the votes, while behind him was Srećko Spasić, the candidate for mayor of the Serbian People's Accord with 31,43 percent of the votes.

Aleksandar Šljuka from the New Social Initiative (NDI) speaks for "Vreme" in the cafe "Vuk", which is located below the premises of the Serbian List. This cafe is better known in Mitrovica as "Grej" and in recent years has been associated with the restaurant of the same name owned by Milan Radoičić, which was sealed at the beginning of April 2024, KoSSev wrote earlier.

"Years ago, a mono-party system was established, which rests on the wholehearted support that one party (Srpska Lista) enjoys from official Belgrade. It is not just a matter of declarative support, but the entire infrastructure, resources, logistics, which come from the official institutions of the Republic of Serbia, are at their disposal," says Šljuka.

He explains that even before the Serbian community in Kosovo was completely devastated, there were not many ways for citizens who were not part of the "official structures" to get a job or start a private business.

"It is often stated that Serbia is the biggest employer here. We have the fact that it is the Serbian List, i.e. its representatives, that control key institutions and have an influence on who will be employed, who will be fired, who will receive social benefits, etc.," the interlocutor points out.

He adds that then it is very clear why people support the Serbian List. "There is a strange phenomenon in Serbia - parties are often associated with the state. And here it is even more pronounced because you have an antagonizing environment of inter-ethnic intolerance and one, especially now, nationalist government in Pristina."

In such an environment, says Šljuka, it comes to the point that support for that party is actually support for the state of Serbia or the survival of the state of Serbia in Kosovo.

MARKO JAKŠIĆ - POTENTIAL SURPRISE?

According to the CEC results, the candidate of the Serbian List, Milan Radojević, won in North Mitrovica. However, the citizens also voted for Marko Jakić from the Civic Initiative "North for All". In the elections, he won 12,28 percent of the votes, while Serbian Democracy led by Aleksandar Arsenijević is in fourth place with 7,29 percent.

Šljuka says that Jakšić achieved a good result. However, he also states that it should be borne in mind that Jakšić is running for the elections for the first time, and people traditionally like new faces.

"Marko Jakšić has now stepped forward as a candidate for mayor, but he was active in political life before, so he is also someone who is recognizable to the local community, especially in North Mitrovica."

With this situation on the ground, it is hard to imagine that any political representative will threaten or defeat Srpska lista. "The big shortcoming of the local Serbian opposition is its fragmentation and the fact that they all acted more or less separately."

He explains that the situation is the same as in the parliamentary elections - there are also personal vanities among the opposition political representatives. "Those animosities and differences between them are probably much smaller than they imagine. Serbs and their representatives do not have the luxury of looking for some minor programmatic or personal differences in a situation when the community is devastated and when one united voice is really needed."

Because, as Šljuka points out, this is not just a matter of dividing council seats, but an essential struggle for survival: "Both in the parliamentary and now local elections, we do not see a tendency for people who are against the Serbian List, and even the repression from Pristina, to unite in one broader front and act towards Belgrade and Pristina, and also towards the international community. Maybe then their voice would be more valued."

photo: ap

RETURN TO POLITICAL FUNCTIONS

These elections were the first regular local elections in Kosovo after the exit of the Serbian List from the institutions. In addition to all the irreversible changes on the ground that occurred in the previous three years, Srpska lista decided to return to the municipalities without fulfilling the requirements (which it set after leaving the institutions) - the formation of the Union of Serbian Municipalities and the withdrawal of the decision on re-registration of vehicles. The conclusion was: "A living man makes mistakes" and "In himself and in his mouth." That's how they made a mistake, except that the consequences of their mistake on the field are almost irreparable.

Are these elections important to Serbs and why?

Šljuka is of the opinion that they are not as important to the Serbs as the Serbian List presented them to be.

"Given that we had a period from the exit of the Serbs from the institutions, through the extraordinary local elections and the fact that the municipalities in the north were led by Albanians for the previous two years, together with all the problematic decisions that were made at the local level, but also those that were a combination of efforts from the local and central level, and which targeted the Serbian community - these local elections were advertised as a break with that period and the liberation of the north. It is as if we will return to the situation that was before the exit of Serbs from institutions, which is not true", explains Šljuka.

Why?

"The bottom line is that with these elections, we have the return of Serbs to the positions of mayors and councilors in the municipal assemblies, and these are not all the positions that the Serbs left in November 2022. We know that then the Serbs left the police and the judiciary, but all those workers who worked in the municipalities, who are not mayors and councilors, also left their positions. There is no guarantee that all those people will now be returned to work," our interlocutor points out.

In addition, says Šljuka, citizens are misled by the fact that the current local problems did not arise locally, so they cannot be solved there. "Numerous decisions that were made in the previous period were made outside the local level or in cooperation between the local and central levels," emphasized Šljuka. He points out that "the abolition of the dinar, the closure of Serbian institutions, the ban on the import of goods, and everything that happened after leaving the institutions, was not directly related to that, but it opened up a certain space on the ground for those decisions to be implemented and that none of the political representatives opposed those decisions".

As for local decisions, our interlocutor notes that it involved, for example, the removal of a mural, then crossing over graffiti, removing the Cyrillic sign "I love K. Mitrovica" and replacing it with the Latin sign "I love Mitrovica", changing the names of streets and the appearance of the coat of arms of the municipalities, and that all these decisions were made without the consent of the community and without substantial resistance from political representatives.
"Now we will have much greater resistance at the central level. There will probably be greater supervision by the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government over the work of the majority Serbian municipalities, especially those in the north," says Šljuka.

He adds that it is also possible for the Ministry of the Interior to supervise the work of local self-governments, if, for example, some decisions are interpreted as inciting intolerance, an attack on the constitutional order, and the like: "First of all, I am thinking of identity, perhaps symbolic changes that the new administration will try to make."

Our interlocutor concludes that the local government, as it is, and with the current central government in Pristina, as well as the passive approach of Belgrade, can hardly lead to the announced liberation.

HOW THE ALBANIAN NEIGHBORS VOTE

With trumpets and flags of Albania and the KLA, the Albanian neighbors also celebrated. During the day in South Mitrovica, the cafes were full. Around the roundabout you could see a car with a KLA flag spread over the entire hood, although this is not a rare occurrence in the south of Kosovo.

In front of a polling station in South Mitrovica, the neighbors were generally not in the mood to talk, but a couple of them said that they did not expect anything from the election - "nothing".

In addition to Klokot, the second round of elections will be held in another 16 municipalities out of a total of 38 in Kosovo (with Serbian areas). And that in: Dragaš (where LDK and PDK will oppose each other), Kosovo Polje (Self-Determination and LDK), Đakovica (AAK and Self-Determination), Gjilan (Self-Determination and LDK), Junik (LDK and AAK), Kačanik (PDK and Self-Determination), Klina (AAK and PDK), Južna Mitrovica (PDK and Self-Determination), Obilić (LDK and Self-Determination), Peja (LDK and Self-Determination), Pristina (LDK and Self-Determination), Prizren (PDK and Self-Determination), Orahovac (AAK and Self-Determination), Suva Reka (AAK and LDK), Viti (LDK and Self-Determination) and Vučitrn (PDK and Self-Determination). Therefore, Self-Determination goes to the second round in 12 of the 17 municipalities where voting will take place on November 9.

Journalist Ljeart Hoxha says for "Vreme" that there are two conclusions in the day after the election. The first is that all mayors have either retained their seats in their municipalities or are going to the second round of voting. While the second conclusion is that Self-determination "went much better than in the last local elections". "The main battle (for Self-Determination) in the second round is in Prishtina and South Mitrovica," explains Hoxha. He goes on to say that Self-Determination has the tactic of wanting to retain power in the municipalities that are in the "border area with Serbia". "That's what they did. They have Kosovska Kamenica, Gnjilane, Podujevo, and they are also chasing South Mitrovica in the second round. They can also win Pristina, and they also lead in Kosovo Polje, which on paper is a small municipality, but it is significant because of the 'building boom' and because it is close to Pristina."

CRUCIAL CONSTITUTION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT

What can local elections bring them? Hoxha answers that the time between the first and second round of elections is very delicate because it will be known whether a new government will be formed.

"If it happens that Kurti gets 61 votes, which is necessary for the formation of a new Government, which will happen before the new round of elections, then Self-Determination will be an even bigger favorite among voters and will probably keep Pristina and South Mitrovica," explains Hodža.

He believes that, if a new government is not formed in the meantime, new parliamentary elections will be held.

"I think that before the second round of elections, it is more important whether we will have a new government or whether we will have new parliamentary elections", concludes our interlocutor.

Results in northern Kosovo

According to the preliminary results in the municipality of North Mitrovica, the candidate for mayor of the Serbian List, Milan Radojević, won 60,25 percent of the votes. Behind him is the candidate of the Civic Initiative "North for All" Marko Jakšić with 12,28 percent, while the candidate of Self-Determination Erden Atić won 10,80 percent.

According to the preliminary results, Dragiša Milović, the candidate of the Serbian List, won 86,66 percent of the votes in Zvečan, while Zoran Obrenović, the candidate of the Serbian Democracy, won 8,47 percent.

Miloš Perović, the candidate for the mayor of the Serbian List in the municipality of Zubin Potok, has 70,99 percent of the votes, followed by Milija Biševac, the candidate of the Serbian People's Movement with 6,99 percent.

In Leposavic, the Serbian List candidate Zoran Todić has 70,35 percent of the votes, followed by Vladimir Radosavljević from Serbian Democracy with 11,45 percent.