New Kosovo Serb Party Formed, Says Will Run in Upcoming Local Elections

Local elections, Kosovska Mitrovica, April 23 2023 (BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC)

A new Kosovo Serb political party, the Kosovo Alliance, has held the first session of its Executive Committee and has announced its participation in the upcoming local elections in Kosovo, scheduled for Oct. 12.

The mind behind the party and its coordinator is Zarko Ristic, an independent MP in the Serbian parliament and a former member of the People's Movement of Serbia, on whose ticket he was elected MP.

Kosovo Alliance President Goran Marinkovic has said that the Serbs living and working in Kosovo are being "obliged by the regime in Belgrade to vote for the Serb List," even though, as he put it, "it is completely clear that the Serb List is working against the interests of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija."

He underscored that the Kosovo Alliance would strive to be a constructive political factor in the struggle for the Serbian people's survival and for the normalization of life in Kosovo and Metohija, adding that the existing actors had not been able to do that.

"The Serbian people are to this day oppressed, they are threatened and suffer terror. There is no one to protect us or stand in our defense," said Marinkovic. He added that the Serbs' exit from Kosovo institutions and the police "was a terrible mistake by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and that is obviously costing us a great deal now."