After April 23, there will be a complete occupation of northern Kosovo: Vucic

 Vucic (archive)

 The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that Kosovo Serbs are in a difficult situation because they will not participate in the extraordinary local elections that will be held in northern Kosovo on April 23.

According to him, after the formation of new local authorities in North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic, and Zubin Potok - municipalities in northern Kosovo, predominantly populated by Serbs - there will be a "complete takeover."

"Tomorrow, our people with calmness, responsibility, and contempt will see those who will come from South Mitrovica to vote for new leadership in North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan, and Zubin Potok. What will happen next will be a complete takeover for which citizens are already prepared. They will be calm, they will be responsible, we will pay salaries as before, we will fight even harder for them, we will raise standards, and we will wait for a better time when the UN Charter will be valid as well as international public law," Vučić said on April 22, as reported by the Serbian news agency, Beta, Radio Free Europe reports.

However, Vucic did not provide any evidence to support his claims of, as he said, "takeover of the North."

The Serbian president also commented on the statement of the European Union spokesperson, Peter Stano, who said that the EU bloc is disappointed that the Serbian List and Serbs will not participate in the April 23 elections.

The Serbian leader said that Serbs in Kosovo have participated in several election cycles, but now they should not participate before the Association of Municipalities with a Serb majority is formed.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani on April 22 called on citizens in the north to participate in the elections. She said that their participation would be a "strong message" to those who, according to her, have "threatened and frightened" residents in the north not to participate in the electoral process.