"Serbs in Kosovo should decide on participation in polls"

"Serbs in Kosovo should decide on participation in polls"

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Aleksandar Vulin said in Kosovska Mitrovica of Friday that Serbs themselves should decide on their participation in parliamentary elections in Kosovo.

Vulin now serves as minister of labor and was in charge of Kosovo in the previous government.

He said that Serbs needed to decide on participation in elections and that they should ask "neither Belgrade nor Priština" about this, adding that Belgrade would "certainly make a recommendation in this regard."

According to Vulin, "a few details such as the decisions of the Central Electoral Commission and the question of the manner of participation remain to be clarified."

Asked by Tanjug what the chances were of the Citizens' Initiative and the Independent Liberal Party running on the same ticket, Vulin said that he "believed that Serbs need unity," while the question should to be posed to the two parties.

Vulin added that the director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo would be appointed soon, and that every minister, led by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, "cares about the province." He noted that "nothing has been put on hold concerning the things that the Office for Kosovo also did before."

"Do not have any doubt at all that the Serbian state's care about the province diminished for one second," said Vulin in the northern Kosovo town, adding that the formation a community of Serb municipalities was expected "immediately after parliamentary elections in Kosovo."