This Sunday, April 21, a referendum is being held in northern Kosovo, demanded by the Serbs, to cancel the disputed municipal elections last year in the north of the country. Could the situation change, or not?
1 min
With our correspondent in the region, Laurent Rouy
A year ago, Serbs boycotted municipal elections in the north of Kosovoresulting in the election of four Albanian mayors, with a participation of only 3%.
In February, the Serbs of northern Kosovo petitioned for a referendum to be held for the dismissal of these disputed mayors. This referendum takes place this Sunday.
But, surprisingly, the Serbian population, at the call of Belgrade, decided to boycott the referendum that they demanded two months ago.
The reason for this boycott seems quite technical and enshrined in Kosovar law: for the consultation to be valid, 50% of those registered must participate.
However, since living conditions have deteriorated in northern Kosovo, more and more families have left the region and it seems that the population is too low to reach this 50%.
Result: at 11 a.m. local time this Sunday, out of the 46,000 registered, only 85 people had voted. It now seems impossible that the Serbs will obtain the annulment of the elections that they have criticized so much for a year.
To rereadKosovo: new controversial census of the country’s population