Serbia’s interference in the Kosovo elections is harmful to the country’s democracy. This is how the official Belgrade’s pressure for the Serbian List to vote in the February 9 elections is commented on. Upon completion of this process, the European Union Election Observation Mission in Kosovo and the German ambassador, Jorn Rohde, reacted.

Abit Hoxha, a lecturer in the subject of media and conflict at the University of Agder in Norway, says that such interference by Serbia is made continuously.

“This is in the wake of the intervention that Serbia made through its exponents in Kosovo. It was expected. In the Balkans, the intervention in elections in neighboring countries is quite pronounced.

It was to the extent of the expectation. However, for Kosovo’s democracy, the intervention of another country, to vote in such an organized way, is not good”, says Hoxha.

Local institutions, as he says, should work with the Serbian community in Kosovo. In addition, he considers that the international community should not allow Serbia’s interference in the country.

“The issue of the Serbian List and the strengthening of the Serbian List only suits Serbia. This is also the first consequence. The second consequence for the institutions of Kosovo is that the strengthening of the Serbian List may create a new ‘king maker’ in the creation of the government, but if not, then it will create an internal barrier in the institutions of Kosovo which will always represent the interest of the Serbian state in Kosovo…If the international community had slightly more pronounced principles, it would not allow such interventions in the Balkans, or at least the OSCE or other institutions that deal with elections – the Council of Europe and others, would warn them not to do it continuously”, he adds.

Besar Gërgi from the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) considers the European Union’s reaction to Serbia’s interference in the Kosovo elections insufficient.

“[The reaction] is not enough because the first reaction should come from Kosovo institutions. We have not seen any reaction, neither from the presidency, nor from the Prime Minister’s Office, nor from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, who should react to the systematic violations that are being made to the Ohrid Agreement. And we must understand that every time the international factor requests the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, they do so based on the Ohrid Agreement, and they have the right to request it, because it is part of the agreement. However, the systematic violation of this agreement by Serbia would make the establishment of the Association at this time a potentially harmful project for the sovereignty of Kosovo,” Gërgi said.

The German Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, has said that Serbia has interfered in the regular parliamentary elections in Kosovo, seeking votes for the Serbian List.

The Director of the so-called Office for Kosovo in Serbia, Petar Petkovic, has reacted to Rohde, saying that he has shown “clear bias”.

Besar Gërgi from GLPS considers that these statements have no real effect.

“Petković as the director of the so-called office for Kosovo in the Serbian government usually makes such statements, since we must bear in mind that these offices do not have much effect on the ground, and in the absence of effectiveness with policies, they make such statements to gain positive points in front of the Serbian electorate, but they do not have much real effect on the ground”, she concludes.

In an interview given to KosovaPress the day before, the head of the European Union Election Observation Mission in Kosovo (EOM), Nathalie Loiseau, said that Serbia has interfered in the Kosovo elections.

“I would be more negative about the reports of pressure coming from Serbia to vote for a certain list. We have heard from Serbian officials who support a certain list, which is interference in the electoral process. We also witnessed interference from the US special envoy, [Richard] Grenell, and this is unfortunate, shocking, and undiplomatic. We have regularly heard from [Serbian] President Vučić, but also other members of the Serbian government or parliament, telling voters that they should vote for a certain list, and this should not have happened,” said Loiseau. Over 100 observers from the European Union were deployed on election day on February 9, where over 1.97 million voters were eligible to vote.