Serbian Majority Municipalities Vote to Remove Albanian Mayors

Written by Sophie Ritzenthaler | May 1, 2024

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti

Last year mayoral elections were held in four Serb majority municipalities, resulting in the election of Albanians mayors. Now a referendum to have this mayors removed is being boycotted. This referendum is being held with the intention to diffuse tensions between Kosovo and Serbia and is supported by the West. The boycott has been called by Kosovo’s main ethnic Serb party, Srpska Lista, since a majority vote is needed for the mayors to be removed. However, out of 46,556 registered voters, only 253 casted their votes. The the municipality of Zvecan received no votes at all. Prime Minister Albin Kurti proposed new elections last June if twenty percent of the municipalities’ electorates supported the move and citizens voted in favor in January. After the boycott was called by Kosovo’s Serb party, Serbia endorsed calls for the resignation of the mayors in these municipalities. 

These elections come on the back of mounting tensions between Kosovo and Serbia as both are aiming for EU membership.  After the Albanian mayors were elected last May, protests from Kosovo Serbs clashed with security forces and NATO KFOR peacekeepers causing 93 people to be injured. Tensions have continued to be exacerbated since Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008.  Kosovo is a formerly Serbian province, which causes the state to not acknowledge Kosovo as a legitimate state. Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani accused Serbia of illegally interfering in their election process by pressuring Serbs in Kosovo to boycott the referendum. Local actors and the EU monitored the election process but the results leave the status quo in place and no developments are expected soon.