Following the meeting, Madam President stated as follows:<\/p>\n
“I congratulate the Central Electoral Commission for the preparations made, which allowed the realization of the voting process for snap municipal elections in the municipalities of North Mitrovica, Zve\u00e7an, Zubin Potok and Leposaviq. I also thank all security institutions for their professional work, which ensured a calm and safe environment throughout the electoral process, which was postponed from December 2022 to April 2023.<\/p>\n
The institutions of Kosovo ensured that citizens exercise their right to participate in the elections, in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Kosovo and showed that criminal groups which are directed by Serbia, cannot dictate the constitutional and legal processes in the Republic of Kosovo.<\/p>\n
I thank all those citizens who voted, despite the illegal intervention by Serbia and its criminal structures in order to make such a thing impossible. As a result of these criminal actions, many Serbian citizens of these municipalities were threatened and blackmailed in order not to participate in the electoral process and thus not be able to express their political will to elect their local representatives.<\/p>\n
Foreign interference in election processes is a global problem for the democratic world, which not only tends to undermine the will of the citizens but also violates the principle of sovereign equality of states, as one of the fundamental norms of the international order.<\/p>\n
The Republic of Kosovo has expressed its commitment at the Summit for Democracy, organized under the auspices of President Biden, to stand side by side with democratic states to fight the growing phenomenon of foreign interference in election processes.<\/p>\n
The continuous and candid endeavours by Serbia to hinder the conduct of free elections in the Republic of Kosovo is against the spirit and the letter of the last Agreement reached in Brussels, together with the implementation plan.<\/p>\n
As such, this approach of Serbia should be opposed by the entire democratic world, as it at the same time represents an act of foreign illegal interference, an act that is punishable by a number of international legal acts.<\/p>\n
The institutions of Kosovo will increase their efforts and will stand by all the citizens in the four municipalities in northern Kosovo, in order to protect them from the threats carried out by illegal structures.
\nThe institutions of Kosovo will also coordinate actions with strategic allies to stop further destabilizing actions by Serbia, which are also in contradiction with the last Brussels agreement.<\/p>\n
We are determined to work together with the citizens of these municipalities for better living conditions, greater democracy and well-being in each and every neighbourhood of all municipalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following the meeting, Madam President stated as follows: “I congratulate the Central Electoral Commission for the preparations made, which allowed the realization of the voting process for snap municipal elections in the municipalities of North Mitrovica, Zve\u00e7an, Zubin Potok and Leposaviq. I also thank all security institutions for their professional work, which ensured a calm and safe environment throughout the electoral process, which was postponed from December 2022 to April 2023. The institutions of Kosovo ensured that citizens exercise their right to participate in the elections, in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Kosovo and showed that criminal groups which are directed by Serbia, cannot dictate the constitutional and legal processes in the Republic of Kosovo. I thank all those citizens who voted, despite the illegal intervention by Serbia and its criminal structures in order to make such a thing impossible. As a result of these criminal actions, many Serbian citizens of these municipalities were threatened and blackmailed in order not to participate in the electoral process and thus not be able to express their political will to elect their local representatives. Foreign interference in election processes is a global problem for the democratic world, which not only tends to undermine the will of the citizens but also violates the principle of sovereign equality of states, as one of the fundamental norms of the international order. The Republic of Kosovo has expressed its commitment at the Summit for Democracy, organized under the auspices of President Biden, to stand side by side with democratic states to fight the growing phenomenon of foreign interference in election processes. The continuous and candid endeavours by Serbia to hinder the conduct of free elections in the Republic of Kosovo is against the spirit and the letter of the last Agreement reached in Brussels, together with the implementation plan. As such, this approach of Serbia should be opposed by the entire democratic world, as it at the same time represents an act of foreign illegal interference, an act that is punishable by a number of international legal acts. The institutions of Kosovo will increase their efforts and will stand by all the citizens in the four municipalities in northern Kosovo, in order to protect them from the threats carried out by illegal structures. The institutions of Kosovo will also coordinate actions with strategic allies to stop further destabilizing actions by Serbia, which are also in contradiction with the last Brussels agreement. We are determined to work together with the citizens of these municipalities for better living conditions, greater democracy and well-being in each and every neighbourhood of all municipalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":89312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n