Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has said that the local elections were valid despite a polling station attack by Serbs on Sunday, adding the turnout in the Serb-run north was 22 percent before the attack.
“Enough ethnic Serbs turned out in the local elections to give them a voice and they now have legitimate representatives” Prime Minister Thaci said Monday.
An election poll was attacked by extremists in northern Kosovo on Sunday and the elections there were interrupted. A woman was injured when she jumped out of a window, Oliver Ivanovic, a candidate for mayor of north Mitrovica said. EU and NATO have condemned the attack.
Belgrade encouraged Kosovo's Serb population to participate in the country's first local elections since Kosovo's independence from Serbia in 2008, as an EU-brokered deal seeks to settle disputes between the two countries.
Despite the calls to take part in elections, some people in Serbian minority of Kosovo had concerns that their voting would legitimize the independent state of Kosovo. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
- Elections are unlikely to be canceled
Enis Kervan, a Turkish member in Kosovo parliament, told AA that the elections are unlikely to be canceled. The problem was in only a certain poll station where the attack took place by some “extremist Serbs” in the north of the country, Kervan said. “The EU factor is very important both in Kosovo and Serbia. I believe Serbia will maintain its positive views on the elections. There are no concerns raised by the international community about the legitimacy of the elections. So everything will go as it is planned.”
- Kosovo Serbs’ fate in their own hands-
Participation of the Serb community in the elections shows the sincere intention in full integration of Serbian citizens into the country, Kosovo's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday. “Fate of the Serbian citizens of Kosovo is in their own hands”, the statement added.
It also said despite the attempts by the “Serbian extremist groups provoke voters”, the inclusive character of elections has been maintained.
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