Referendum is being held in northern Kosovo to remove the Albanian mayors

In towns in northern Kosovo with a predominantly Serbian population, a referendum will be held today on the recall of Albanian mayors, elected with just 3% turnout a year ago.
The mayors subject to the referendum were appointed in April 2023 following municipal elections boycotted by Kosovo Serbs, who then took to the streets to prevent the new mayors from taking office.
Several dozen NATO soldiers were injured in these demonstrations, some seriously.
This winter, the largest Serbian party in Kosovo, Srbiska Lista, managed to collect enough signatures in the municipalities of Zvečan, Severna Mitrovica, Leposavič and Zubin Potok to call for a referendum.
Today, people will have to answer the question: "For or against the release of the mayors of the municipalities: Leposavich, Zubin Potok, Zvechan and Severna Mitrovica?"
Polling stations open at 7:00 a.m. local time (08:00 Bulgarian time) and close 12 hours later.
If the poll achieves its goal, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani will call new elections.
A call for a boycott
But from a certain victory a few weeks ago, the situation turned into a political and logistical mess: Serbian authorities called on citizens to boycott the vote just 15 days before the scheduled date.
"Our position is not to participate in the referendum called by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, because he did everything possible to make the vote fail," party leader Zlatan Elek claimed.
Kosovo's Minister of Administration and Local Self-Government Elbert Krasnici said for his part: "This is an attempt by Srpska Lista to take the Serbian community hostage, but it will fail and the process will not stop."
The commission had to urgently find funds to open polling stations after 33 schools refused to organize the voting - the Serbian directors of the respective establishments explained that cultural activities were already planned every weekend from April. /BGNES