Dr. Gurakuç Kuçi
Senior Researcher at Institute for Hybrid Warfare Studies “OCTOPUS” and Professor at UNI College
The only crowd that was seen in the north of Kosovo on the day of the elections was that of Serbs gathering collectively to go and vote. This method violates the widely accepted democratic principles and the laws of the Republic of Kosovo. According to the Serbian media Vreme, when citizens were asked whether they were there on a work duty or of their own free will, they replied: “A bit of everything, whatever you like.” Vreme continues to write: “The Serb List has convinced part of the citizens that their support is equal to the struggle to ‘remain in their centuries-old homes’. Enough for the Serb List to regain its political functions, although this does not mean the return of Serbs to the institutions of Kosovo.”
The morning after the elections, the atmosphere in the “Vuk” café – better known as “Grey” in Mitrovica – located below the offices of the winning Serb List, was not festive. Citizens came for their morning coffee. In the city streets, a day like any other. There was celebration only for Vučić, his people in Serbia, and the Serb List, while the citizens had no will for it.
Radio Free Europe, comparing the results of the Serb List from 2021 with those of 2025, notes a sharp decline even though the Serb List has won nine out of ten municipalities without a runoff. The comparison shows that while in previous elections the Serb List managed to secure up to 97% of votes in each municipality, now in most of them there is a decline of 10%–20%. The reports of Vreme and Radio Free Europe prove how much pressure Serbs in Kosovo face and how they behave under the pressure of Belgrade and the Serb List.
The Serbs in Kosovo were forced to accept psychological pressure, financial pressure, and every other kind of pressure to vote for the Serb List. These attractive schemes with money, various gifts, and jobs are not simply gifts, but a form of pressure that one must accept as in the style of zones where the mafia rules and residents act according to the mafia’s interests for a bit of money.
To better see that the north of the country has not been allowed to develop by the criminal bands of Vučić and the Serb List, one only needs to compare these cities with other cities of Kosovo. In the other cities there is development, construction, employment, and interactivity, whereas in the northern municipalities there is the gloom and fear imposed by the bands led by Radoičić, Veselinović, and others.
Nevertheless, the difference between 2021 and 2025 shows a structure that must be preserved based on professional rather than ethnic and political character. The legal and institutional standard must be the practice of action that surpasses the political practice of the past. Administrative and security actions should be based on the laws of Kosovo, while ceremonial actions should remain as mere displays of the propagandist circus of the Serb List.
/Argumentum.al
