Sejdiu calls on Kosovo Serbs to vote

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu has called on the Kosovo Serbs to vote in the local elections scheduled for Nov. 15.

“I once again call on representatives of all communities, in this case the Serb community as well, to be active in this process, which primarily concerns the exercising of their constitutional and human rights,” Sejdiu told the press in Čaglavica.

Belgrade, according to Sejdiu, still has “an irrational approach” to the Kosovo Serbs.

“Such rhetoric to these people is unjust, irrational and above all it is not in the interest of the Serb community,” Sejdiu stressed.

Twenty-one tickets of the Serb community have registered to run in the vote, but among them there is no party represented in the Serbian parliament. The Serbian government has on several occasions said there are no conditions for the Serbs to take part in the election.

According to the Serb Resistance Movement (SPOT) candidate for Gračanica mayor, Momčilo Trajković, there are political and pragmatic reasons why the Serbs should vote and take over power in the Gračanica municipality, regardless of the fact that it is under Priština’s (Kosovo Albanian) authority.

“We try to take destiny in our own hands at the local level, because if the Albanians gain power on Serb territory, it would be an irreversible mistake,” Trajković told Beta. The Nov. 15 vote will be the first elections organized by the Kosovo Albanian government.