5-day campaign starts in northern K. Mitrovica
The campaign in the repeat mayoral elections in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo, started on Monday and will last for the next five days.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Monday, February 17, 2014
Four candidates are in the race: the Citizens' Initiative Srpska, which is supported by official Belgrade, nominated Goran Rakic, while the Citizens' Initiative SDP candidate is Oliver Ivanovic. Ivanovic ic currently in custody in Pristina. He was arrested in late January on charges of participating in alleged war crimes in 1999 and 2000. Among the candidates are also Florent Azemi of the Democratic Party of Kosovo and Musa Miftari of the Democratic League of Kosovo. Rakic said he was concerned that the electoral register now contain about 500 new names, mostly ethnic Albanians, adding he suspected there had been an attempt at "redrawing the electoral will of the people." The same problem was also mentioned by the chief of the SDP campaign, Igor Simic, who said that "within 14 days an authority without competence, outside of any legal deadlines, enrolled 476 Albanians in the electoral roll, which directly threatens the electoral process." The voting will be repeated in this town because elected mayor Krstimir Pantic did not take office as he refused to sign a declaration on a document "that had the insignia of Kosovo's statehood." 28,429 voters will be eligible to cast their ballots on Sunday.
