Kosovo Electoral Commission Ready to Hold Elections in North

The local elections in North Mitrovica (BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC)

The Central Electoral Commission is ready to hold the new elections in municipalities in Kosovo’s north, whenever the relevant institutions request so, the spokesman of the Commission announced on Aug. 2.

“The Central Electoral Commission, as a permanent constitutional institution, has the basic task of organizing elections whenever they are scheduled. As always, and as we said before, the Commission is ready to fulfill the obligations stemming from the Constitution and laws,” he said in a statement to the media in Pristina.

The Ministry for Local Administration lunched procedures on Aug. 1 for the civil initiative for the replacement of mayors of municipalities in the north of Kosovo. The initiative is supported by the Ministry, the European Union’s Office in Kosovo, representatives of embassies and of the OSCE. According to the decision signed by the Ministry, the administrative instruction for the elections is to be prepared by Sept. 1 this year.

However, the former president of the Central Electoral Commission, Valdete Daka, has stated that the way in which the government intended to secure the conditions for the elections was unrealistic, because Kosovo had no legal grounds for holding the referendum for the replacement of elected mayors. The only option, in her words, is for the mayors to resign.