Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo will not participate in local elections due to be held later this month – a move likely to aggravate current disagreements over Pristina’s rule.
The four municipalities, which border Serbia, do not recognise authorities in Pristina and see Belgrade as their capital.
Serb officials from the area, administrative staff, judges, and policemen resigned collectively in November 2022, in protest over Pristina’s plan to replace Serbian car licence number plates with those of Kosovo.
The elections for municipal bodies were postponed in December 2022 after Serbs blocked roads and border crossings.
Representatives of Serbs from northern Kosovo, including the Belgrade-backed Serbian List party, want to see an association of Kosovo Serb municipalities set up before they take part in the vote.
“We agreed to continue working together…so that we could issue a joint statement about the elections that someone scheduled for April 23, in which Srpska Lista is not taking part,” Vucic said after meeting Serb representatives from northern Kosovo.
