Kosovo's Place in Serbian Elections Disputed

Serbia's Electoral Commisssion, RIK, told BIRN that early parliamentary elections due on March 16 will be organized also in the former province of Kosovo.

"There will be three members of the committee at each polling station in Kosovo and ballots will be taken for counting at voting centres in Vranje and Raska [in Serbia]," the RIK said.

Ivica Dacic, Serbia's outgoing Prime Minister, on Friday said that the elections should be organized in Kosovo with the help of international missions.

The Kosovo authorities strongly oppose the idea. Bekim Collaku, advisor to the Kosovo Prime Minister, said that no polling stations will open in Kosovo for the Serbian elections.

The authorities there will accept only "centers for collecting the ballots of those who have dual citizenship - that of Serbia and Kosovo," Collaku told RFE on Thursday.

The spat casts a stain on improved relations that have followed the signing of the Brussels agreement in April 2013, when Belgrade and Pristina signed a historic deal on the "normalisation" of their relations.

As part of the deal, locals in the Serb-run north of Kosovo for the first part took part in elections organized by the Kosovo authorities in November last year.

In the 2012 general elections in Serbia, Belgrade also organized elections in Kosovo.

The OSCE Mission in Pristina stated that the mission was capable of supporting the process of voting, in keeping with its mandate.