Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi received today in a meeting the diplomatic representatives of the QUINT countries and the European Union, with whom they discussed current topics and Serbia’s request to the OSCE to hold elections in Kosovo on December 17.
Kurti emphasized that on this matter he has already informed the OSCE that an inter-state agreement is necessary for the organization of voting outside the Liaison Office of Serbia in Prishtina, and that the request for such an agreement must come from Serbia as an interested party.
He expressed his regret for Serbia’s lack of readiness for such an agreement that would enable citizens of Kosovo who also have Serbian citizenship to participate in the elections according to the best European interstate practices for voting from abroad.
Contrary, Serbia a few days ago asked the OSCE mission in Kosovo, but not the official Prishtina, to be involved in the collection of votes of Kosovo Serbs with dual citizenship for the parliamentary elections in Serbia.
In the past, Serbian elections were also held in Kosovo, where the OSCE mission was involved in the collection of votes, which were then sent to Serbia for counting. This practice was allowed by the Kosovo authorities until last year. The OSCE mission has announced that, however, it remains ready to support the collection of votes, as it has done in previous cases.
