Serbs in north Kosovo voted for the second day Wednesday in a referendum on ethnic Albanian rule, in a slap in the face to efforts by Serbia and the EU to resolve differences over the territory. Many Kosovo Serbs fear that Belgrade, which is hoping to win official EU candidate status in March, will eventually give up its claim to Kosovo, leaving them at the mercy of the ethnic Albanian government.
The vote is expected to show a resounding rejection of the authority of the Kosovo government, but it has no legal weight and has been dismissed by both Belgrade and Pristina as well as the international community. "After the referendum, it will be crystal clear to ethnic Albanians, the international community and politicians from Belgrade that it is not (just) local politicians who do not want the Kosovo institutions, but that it is the wish of the whole Serb community living in the north," Krstimir Pantic, mayor of the Serb part of ethnically divided flashpoint Kosovska Mitrovica, told AFP.
The referendum, which asks voters if they accept Pristina institutions, is being held ahead of the fourth anniversary on Friday of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, a move rejected by Belgrade. Many Kosovo Serbs feel Belgrade should not deal with a government it officially does not recognise.
But only Serbs in northern Kosovo, which make up a third of the Serb population of the territory, are taking part in the vote, which was also held on Tuesday. "Pristina, Belgrade and the international community will ignore the vote but the Serbs in northern Kosovo feel the need to make themselves heard as they are not included in the Belgrade-Pristina talks," Vladimir Todoric, a political analyst from Serbia's Centre for New Politics, told AFP.
The vote has been dismissed by the international community as little more than an opinion poll that could damage prospects for more EU-sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina. Serbia's state secretary for Kosovo, Oliver Jovanovic, on Tuesday lashed out at what he branded the "open defiance" of the Serb-dominated northern Kosovo municipalities in organising the vote. He accused nationalist opposition parties of trying to "position themselves" ahead of general elections in Serbia this spring.
Three of the four towns which organised the referendum are controlled by the opposition. Serbian President Boris Tadic said the vote was "harming the interests of the state", while insisting that Belgrade would never accept Kosovo's independence. Dozens of countries recognise Kosovo's independence including the United States and most of Europe.