OSCE: It's up to voters in northern Kosovo and Metohija to decide whether to cast their ballots

Photo: kosovo-online.com

The OSCE mission in Kosovo and Metohija has issued a statement saying that it will be for voters in each (northern) municipality to decide whether to recall (Albanian) mayors.

Recommended

"Regardless of recent disappointing party political statements discouraging voters from exercising their democratic right, it will be for voters in each municipality to decide whether or not to cast their ballots on the recall of mayors on April 21," the statement posted on Facebook said, adding:

"Participation by all communities in democratic processes and institutions is critical to facilitating normalization."

It is also stated that more than 20 percent of registered voters in each of the four multiplicities - Leposavic, Zubin Potok, northern Kosovska Mitrovica and Zvecan - "signed requests to for the recall of mayors as part of a democratic process initiated by voters under Kosovo legisation."

OSCE added that "voters have the right to expect that their initiative is responded to in accordance with the relevant legislation."

"The Central Election Commission has overseen the process with due regard for the legal framework, and will be well advised to avoid innovative approaches, such as the use of cameras in polling stations, which would require more thorough consideration and proper consultation," said the OSCE.

The Serb List announced on Monday that it will not participate in the vote for the removal of mayors in four municipalities in the North, claiming that this position is shared by the Serbs in the North.

That decision, Serb List leader Zlatan Elek said, was influenced by the impossible conditions around the entire process, for which he blamed Prime Minister of Pristina's provisional institutions Albin Kurti, stating that Kurti made sure that the referendum would fail.

Elek pointed out that impossible procedures are envisaged for the vote that is to be held on April 21, adding that people are supposed to vote in the presence of cameras, that the voter lists do not reflect the real situation on the ground because the number of voters has increased disproportionately and that even if the mayors are replaced, Albanian councilors would still remain.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)