Liberation Movement: Preventing Kosovo Serbs From Voting Undermines Serbia’s Legal and Constitutional System

Mladjan Djordjevic (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/DS)

In a press release issued on March 23, Mladjan Djordjevic, the president of the Liberation Movement, said that the fact that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are being prevented from voting locally in the upcoming elections for Serbian president and parliament undermines not only the legality of the elections themselves but also the country’s entire “constitutional and legal system.”

“While the Liberation Movement already declined to participate in the April 3 elections due to numerous breaches of formal and legal regulations, it is now patently obvious that the elections are a farce – and that they are completely unconstitutional,” the press release reads.

According to Djordjevic, the elections cannot be legal if they are not held in all of Serbia. Citing plans to enable Kosovo and Metohija voters to use polling stations in Raska and Vranje, Djordjevic stated that the solution amounts to “the ruling party transporting voters by bus to those faraway polling stations.”

In his opinion, such transportation will be provided only to members or definite supporters of the Serbian Progressive Party – which is currently in power – while average citizens and oppositional voters will not be afforded the same opportunity. “I’d like to ask the opposition how many votes they expect to garner in Kosovo and Metohija under these circumstances? Are such elections proper? Why are they even participating in them?” Djordjevic concluded in his statement.