Serb municipalities favor boycott of elections

The Assembly of the Community of Municipalities of Kosovo-Metohija Friday urged a boycott of the local elections in Kosovo. The delegates called on the Serbian state institutions, political parties and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) to tell Kosovo Serbs to boycott the local vote, scheduled for November 15, 2009. Serb municipalities favor boycott of elections "We request all political parties in Serbia to state their opinion in view of the local elections in Kosovo scheduled for November and to call on their members, supporters and citizens to boycott the elections," it is said in the document entitled The Vidovdan Charter adopted at the Assembly session in Gracanica today. The assembly deputies request all Serbian institutions – President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, parliament speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, as well as the Church – to address the Serbian public and to call on the citizens to boycott the local elections in Kosovo. Most participants in the debate this Friday said that in the past nine years Belgrade defended the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty with a varying degree of success, but that in the past year there is an impression that Kosovo is being sacrificed for the sake of the EU. The Charter also said that Kosovo's partition, advocated by some Western circles, is unacceptable, and that Serbia will be eternal only if it is whole. The debate heard that decisions on electricity and water problems faced by the Serb community in the province cannot be made by local leaders, but by state organs, since these issues are of state and national interest. "Participation in the local elections called by the separatists in Pristina, as well as the presence of Serbs in the institutions of this separatist entity and dual employment in both Serbian and ethnic Albanian educational and health institutions, represent acts that contribute to the renunciation of their own state and their support to the secessionist Western creation," the assembly concluded. Belgrade "not thinking" Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic says the state is “not thinking" about whether it will call on Serbs to participate in Kosovo’s November local elections. Bogdanovic said in Kosovska Mitrovica on Thursday that Belgrade does not recognize Ahtisaari’s plan, nor the institutions of the self-proclaimed "state of Kosovo”. “At this moment we are definitely not thinking about calling on Serbs to participate in the local elections in Kosovo and Metohija,” said Bogdanovic.

Serb municipalities favor boycott of elections

"We request all political parties in Serbia to state their opinion in view of the local elections in Kosovo scheduled for November and to call on their members, supporters and citizens to boycott the elections," it is said in the document entitled The Vidovdan Charter adopted at the Assembly session in Gračanica today.

The assembly deputies request all Serbian institutions – President Boris Tadić, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković, parliament speaker Slavica Đukić-Dejanović, as well as the Church – to address the Serbian public and to call on the citizens to boycott the local elections in Kosovo.

Most participants in the debate this Friday said that in the past nine years Belgrade defended the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty with a varying degree of success, but that in the past year there is an impression that Kosovo is being sacrificed for the sake of the EU.

The Charter also said that Kosovo's partition, advocated by some Western circles, is unacceptable, and that Serbia will be eternal only if it is whole.

The debate heard that decisions on electricity and water problems faced by the Serb community in the province cannot be made by local leaders, but by state organs, since these issues are of state and national interest.

"Participation in the local elections called by the separatists in Priština, as well as the presence of Serbs in the institutions of this separatist entity and dual employment in both Serbian and ethnic Albanian educational and health institutions, represent acts that contribute to the renunciation of their own state and their support to the secessionist Western creation," the assembly concluded.

Belgrade "not thinking"

Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović says the state is “not thinking" about whether it will call on Serbs to participate in Kosovo’s November local elections.

Bogdanović said in Kosovska Mitrovica on Thursday that Belgrade does not recognize Ahtisaari’s plan, nor the institutions of the self-proclaimed "state of Kosovo”.

“At this moment we are definitely not thinking about calling on Serbs to participate in the local elections in Kosovo and Metohija,” said Bogdanović.