OSCE awaits approval from Kosovo institutions for Serbian elections

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo said it is ready to collect ballots if the Serbian parliamentary elections were also held in Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, but Kosovo institutions’ approval is needed for this.

They told Radio Free Europe (RFE) from the OSCE, stressing that Serbia’s request to hold the elections in Kosovo has already been communicated to the relevant Kosovo institutions and decision-makers and that they are now awaiting their response.

“The mission is ready to carry out such an operation, under the same conditions as in previous cases. This implies the approval of the relevant parties and ensuring the necessary security conditions,” the OSCE said.

The Director of the Office for Kosovo in the Serbian Government, Petar Petković, had earlier asked the OSCE for the mission to provide support so that the parliamentary elections for the Assembly of Serbia, set for October 25, would also be held in Kosovo.

RFE asked the Kosovo Government whether it was aware of this request from Serbia and whether it was being considered, but has not yet received a response.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti had earlier demanded that for the Serbian elections to be held on Kosovo territory there be a direct request from official Belgrade and not that the OSCE act as intermediary. Serbia rejected this, arguing that this would recognize Kosovo’s independence.

Meanwhile, Kurti in 2022 had ended the practice of holding Serbian elections on Kosovo territory, in the municipalities where members of the Serb community live.

In January of that year, the Kosovo Assembly had also approved a resolution opposing the holding in Kosovo of the vote for Serbia’s referendum on constitutional changes.

The international community has several times called on the Kosovo Government to find ways to hold the Serbian elections.

On the other hand, Kurti has said several times that Kosovo does not want to deny the right to vote to Kosovo citizens with dual citizenship, but that it cannot act contrary to the country’s laws and Constitution.

In the last elections for the Assembly of Serbia, in 2023, members of the Serb community from Kosovo voted in cities near the border, in Kuršumlija, Raška, Tutin and Vranje, after the Kosovo Government did not allow the opening of polling stations in Kosovo.

The last parliamentary elections that Serbia organized for the Serb community in Kosovo were held on June 21, 2020.

These elections were held according to previous practice, where ballots were collected by the OSCE mission in Kosovo. The ballots were then counted in Raška and Vranje, two cities in Serbia near the border with Kosovo. /Radio Free Europe/