The candidate of the Democratic Party of Kosovo for the mayor of the municipality of Zubin Potok Izmir Zećiri and the future mayor of Leposavic Ljulzim Hetemi promised that, as soon as they receive the mayoral mandates, they will remove the Serbian flags from all relevant buildings and replace them with the flag of the Republic of Kosovo, and that they will "expand the functionality" of the state to which they belong.
Zeciri is for Klan Kosova television said that he will go to the municipal facility in Zubin Potok when he forms his cabinet, and asks that the Serbs join him in his plan.
Unlike Zećiri, the new mayor of Kurtijvo Self-Determination in Leposavic, Hetema, says that he will perform his duties from the mayor's office located in the center of Leposavic. He announces large investments for which he says he received support of Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti and his Government.
Access to municipalities is a challenge for starting the mandate
Newly elected mayors in municipalities in the north of Kosovo they told Radio Free Europe (RSE) that they are aware of the fact that they will have problems accessing their new offices because they are mostly located in the buildings of the Provisional Municipal Authorities that work in the Serbian system. Only in North Mitrovica is the Kosovo municipal building physically separated from the one operating in the Serbian system.
Izmir Zećiri said that in the settlements where Albanians live, there are facilities that can be used by the new local leadership if the main building of the municipality in Zubin Potok, where local self-government functions according to the Serbian system, is not released.
"Currently, we have no intention of occupying the building." My priority is consolidation, the formation of a government cabinet and an offer to involve everyone (members of the Serbian community) in the work of the municipality. I will invite them to join the system, to work together," Zećiri told RFE/RL.
In a statement to RSE, Hetemi said that they had previously received a promise from the Government of Kosovo that they would help in the functionalization of local institutions.
"Now he has to help us... Let's see now how he will react," Hetemi declared.
The Serbian List does not recognize the elections
On April 23, a total of 1.567 citizens with the right to vote - out of 45.095 registered in the voter register - voted in the extraordinary local elections in four municipalities with a majority Serbian population.
The Serbian List, the dominant political organization among Serbs living in Kosovo, refused to take part in the election process and called on citizens to boycott.
In the meantime, the vice-president of the Serbian List, Milan Radoičić, told RSE that "the Serbian people will never allow municipalities in the north to be run by those with one or two percent of the vote." He did not clearly specify what measures he would take to prevent them from taking power.
Extraordinary elections in municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north of Kosovo were held after the mayors from the Serbian list resigned in November last year as a sign of opposition to the decision of the Government of Kosovo to implement the process of re-registering cars from Serbian to Kosovo license plates.
ZS/KoSSev/Free Europe
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