Kosovo Serbs return to polls in flashpoint town

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KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Serbia- Repeat elections took place Sunday in Kosovo’s flashpoint town of Kosovska Mitrovica where ethnic Serbs were casting ballots under heavy security after violence led to the cancellation of a previous vote.

Voting for local mayors and councillors was repeated at three polling stations in the Serb-populated part of the ethnically divided town after masked Serbian extremists destroyed ballot boxes during the previous election on November 3.

The vote is seen as a crucial bellwether of ties between Serbia and Kosovo, and authorities on both sides hoped that a peaceful and successful election would boost their hopes of joining the European Union.

Police and peacekeepers of the NATO-led force KFOR were a heavy presence near polling stations.

Riot police, some armed with automatic rifles, and armoured vehicles were deployed at major crossroads. A KFOR unit consisting of four armoured personnel carriers equipped with small-calibre guns, as well as five trucks and several all-terrain military vehicles, were parked at the town’s northern entrance.

KFOR and an EU mission in the country had vowed “robust security measures in order to ensure … the voting process takes place in a peaceful and orderly manner.”

And Zeljko Bojic, a Serb commander of Kosovo police, warned that “any provocation or intimidation will not be tolerated.”

Aside from the attack by masked Serb extremists, the November 3 vote was also marred by intimidation that drew condemnation from the international community.

Belgrade-backed Serb mayoral candidate Krstimir Pantic voiced hope after casting his ballot on Sunday that “everything will go on smoothly until the end of the vote.”

Serbia rejects Kosovo’s independence but has urged its ethnic Serb community to vote and have their say in Pristina-run institutions.

The election was part of a historic deal brokered by the EU in April to normalise ties between Serbia and Kosovo since the breakaway territory proclaimed independence in 2008.

Some 120,000 ethnic Serbs live in Kosovo, whose 1.8 million population is mainly Albanian.

But the 40,000 or so Serbs in the north recognize neither Kosovo’s independence nor authorities in Pristina since the end of the 1998-1999 war between Serbia and Kosovo.

However, speaking at a rally in Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic appealed for a high turnout, after a mere 10 percent voted last time.

‘Ashamed, disgusted’ at violence

But at 0900 GMT, three hours after the polling stations opened, turnout was 3.4 percent, the electoral commission said.

“I voted today as I did on November 3 despite all the pressures,” Silvana Jovanovic, an ethnic Serb, told AFP.

However, the 48-year-old woman added it was “not normal to vote in the presence of so many soldiers and police officers.”

“I did not vote last time, but now I will as I feel ashamed and disgusted” with the violence on November 3, said a young teacher who gave his name only as Marko.

Oliver Ivanovic, one of the Serb mayoral candidates, told AFP that he hoped “that the voters will understand the importance of these elections and come out to the polls.”

Many Serbs have expressed concern that voting in the election will hand legitimacy to the Kosovo government.

Political analyst Bosko Jaksic said Belgrade had failed to fully convince Kosovo Serbs to vote as Serbia has “radically” changed its policy by urging them to take part in elections organized by Pristina.

“Only a naive person would think it is possible to change people’s opinion overnight after more than a decade of telling them something completely opposite from what they are asking them now,” Jaksic said.

Elected officials will also form an “Association of Serb municipalities” to replace Belgrade-elected institutions in northern Kosovo that both Pristina and the international community deem illegal.

Polling stations were to close at 1800 GMT and results are expected over the course of the week.