ELECTIONS WITHOUT A CHOICE

It cannot be said that Kosovo has passed the test of its independence which unilaterally, but with the support of many influential members of the world community, was declared in 2008. It is not as if the process of the normalization of Serbian-Kosovar relations has passed the test, either.

Although many international observers on behalf of the USA, the EU, the OSCE and the UN remained satisfied and even "heartened" by the local elections held in Kosovo on 3 November, they raised a number of questions. And it is not just the fact that the mayors and deputies of local assemblies were not elected everywhere. The point is that in line with the Brussels Agreement - the basic treaty between Serbia and the Albanian authorities in Kosovo which was signed this April with the purpose of normalizing relations between Belgrade and Pristina - the participation of the Serbian community in the elections was one of the main points of this document.

However, as the elections themselves and the events before and after them have shown, the Serbs have not only failed to integrate into the Kosovo system, but the bulk of them do not wish to avail themselves of the opportunity to vote and be elected to leading posts. Of course, one can understand this - using their electoral right in this instance virtually means recognizing the legitimacy of the Kosovar authorities. For example they had to cast their vote on ballot papers bearing the state symbol of the unrecognized republic.

In all, over 100 political entities - 33 political parties, 52 citizens' associations, 16 independent candidates and 2 coalitions (a total of 7,932 candidates) - as well as several Serbian political parties and associations took part in the local elections. Representatives of ethnic minorities - Bosniaks, Turks, Roma, Montenegrins, Croats and others - also put forward their candidates. Even refugees and displaced persons, for whom polling stations were opened in central Serbia, including Belgrade, were able to vote in the elections. Some 1,779,357 people now have the right to vote in Kosovo.

The talks on the Brussels Agreement were long and difficult and at the highest level with the aid of the EU. The treaty was expected to give Serbia the chance to do the impossible - to co-exist and even inter-act with Kosovo without recognizing the area's independence - but the elections were supposed to show how successfully this process has taken its course in practice.

In April this year Kosovo Prime Minister Hamish Tachi and Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic agreed that even those Kosovar municipalities in the north of the province which contain a Serbian minority and were virtually under Belgrade's rule would be placed under Pristina's control.  In September the Serbian government dissolved four Serbian municipal assemblies in the north of Kosovo whose representatives disagreed with official Belgrade on a number of fundamental issues.

The success of the Brussels Agreement is important to Serbia because it is arguably the first serious step towards full membership of the EU. In the opinion of a number of leading Serbian politicians, it is only by political participation that the Kosovar Serbs can be certain that their interests in Kosovo will be represented at the proper level and will not be transferred to the Kosovar Albanians. This is the position taken by the ruling coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SPP). In the opinion of the SPP's leader and Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, this is the only way of guaranteeing that citizens' rights will be protected. He was supported by Prime Minister Ivica Danic, who said that if the Serbs don't take part in the elections power in the regions now under their control could transfer to the Albanians or the collaborators.

"We have to realize that boycotting the elections means wanting to resolve the problem of Kosovo and Metohija without Serbia's participation, which is not only unacceptable from the moral and political points of view, but leaves no chance of success," says a joint statement by President Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

"The short-term objective is to maintain Serbia's presence in Kosovo, if only to straighten out our lives there and, by obtaining additional legitimacy at these elections, we can continue the strategic struggle. The alternative is to cut ourselves off from the election process. And what will happen? We shall isolate ourselves and the Serbian factor in Kosovo will cease to be active," says Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the "Civil Initiative SDP" and a candidate for the post of mayor of the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.

But this view was rigorously rejected by the patriotic forces of the Serbian community in Kosovo and the opposition in Serbia itself. Protests were held in northern Kosovo and a road blockade was organized. According to the organizers of the actions, the authorities in Belgrade rejected Kosovo, having agreed to conduct the elections based on the laws of a self-proclaimed state. Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia urged the Kosovar Serbs to boycott the elections so as to not even indirectly recognize the sovereignty of the "Republic of Kosovo". This position was also supported by the radical right-wing groups Obraz and Dveri.

"Last year's referendum showed that 99 per cent of Serbs in northern Kosovo do not wish to conform to the institutions of power of an illegitimate "Kosovan state". First a number of problems have to be resolved: the destroyed or usurped property of the Serbs, the burnt-out churches and absence of freedom of movement and the right to live as we wish. Generally speaking, Serbia and the international community have plenty to do before pushing us into these elections, says the chairman of the provisional assembly of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, Slavko Stepanovic.

The political researcher Stevan Gajic (Institute of European Studies, Belgrade/Serbia) expressed a much more critical opinion to R+.

"These elections were a part of the so-called 'Brussels Agreement' between Belgrade (Serbia) and Pristina (Albanian authorities of Kosovo). The talks which preceded the 'agreement' were held under the aegis of the EU, and their sole aim was Serbian recognition of the de facto independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. The Belgrade authorities, in the form of Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and his deputy (and indeed the most influential person in the country) Aleksandar Vucic, virtually did this. Except that they patently do not recognize the independence of Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia. Why are the Serbian authorities going against the interests of their own people and country? The answer is fairly complex and has a long history. In short it is all to do with their obligations. But by no means to the Serbian people (who elected them a year ago when they, apart from other patriotic slogans, said they would review the negotiations of the last government and would never give up Kosovo), but to their 'partners' from Washington, Berlin and Brussels who helped them get into power," Gajic believes.

He says that "not only the Serbian province of Kosovo but the whole of Serbia is under occupation - it is mild in Belgrade, but in Kosovo province it is brutal and run by the military". Stevan Gajic also added that, according to his information, the Serbian people in the north of the province simply did not bother to vote, or "to be more precise, the Serbs in the north showed a turnout of only about two per cent".

Given such a polarity of opinions, it is not surprising that even with international inspection polling day did not pass without serious incidents, including candidates being attacked and voters intimidated. On 1 November two unidentified people wearing masks beat up Krstimir Pantic, a candidate for the post of mayor of Kosovska-Mitrovica from the Belgrade-supported Srpska citizens' association. Pantic said the attack on him was attempted murder. The following day there were reports about the murder of Bekim Birincik, a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army" and until recently a successful businessman and deputy candidate to the local assembly of Srbica from one of the more influential Albanian political forces - the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK).

The people of Kosovska-Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan and Zubin Potok (about 50,000 Serbs) were persuaded not to vote by letter and social networks. On 3 November several masked men broke into some polling stations in the northern part of Kosovska-Mitrovica, sprayed tear gas and beat people with sticks. The OSCE observers were swiftly evacuated and all documents abandoned without inspection.

So the question as to what extent the Brussels Agreement on a normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina can been carried out in practice remains unanswered…or has been given a very obvious answer, depending on your point of view. In any event, one feels it was rather premature - perhaps even na?ve - to think they could be put to the test by the elections. In this particular instance, reassurance within the framework of a belief in representative democracy and the fact that legitimately elected institutions are a sufficient force to resolve all, even very serious problems, is not enough. 

As Stevan Gajic points out, the Kosovar Serbs have in point of fact found themselves between a rock (EU, NATO and the Albanians) and a hard place (official Belgrade). To vote means to agree with the legitimacy of the Albanian authorities. To boycott means to be prepared to be completely marginalized and deprived of any opportunity to influence their own destiny in any way. It's an unenviable situation, whichever way you look at it…