Serbia appoints candidate who withdrew from Kllokot/Kllokot as mayor of parallel municipality in Kosovo

The Serbian government on Monday appointed Sreqko Spasic as mayor of the parallel Serbian municipality of Viti in Kosovo, a few days after he withdrew from the race for mayor of Kllokot in the November 9 runoff in Kosovo to support the Serbian List candidate.

Spasić was appointed head of the Provisional Municipal Body of the Municipality of Viti, despite the fact that this parallel structure was closed by Kosovo authorities earlier this year.

Kosovo considers all provisional municipal bodies and Serbian institutions on its territory to be illegal. Belgrade refuses to close these institutions and has relocated most of them within Serbian territory.

The Serbian Government's decision to nominate Spasić was published on Monday in the Official Gazette of Serbia, having been taken on November 6, three days after Spasić withdrew from the race and called on his supporters to vote for his opponent from the Serbian List, Božidar Dejanović.

The Serbian List, the largest Serb party in Kosovo, welcomed Spasić's decision, calling it "evidence of maturity and responsibility."

This party, which enjoys the support of Belgrade, won the local elections in Kllokot/Kllokot on November 9 with more than 90 percent of the vote, while in the first round it took power in nine out of ten municipalities with a Serb majority.

Spasić had previously been the mayor of Kllokot from the Serbian List, but had left this party in 2017, when this political force of Kosovo Serbs had distanced itself from its candidate, Strahinja Spasić (Spasić's son), and had supported the opposing candidate Božidar Dejanović from the Civic Initiative Kllokot–Vërbovc.

It was Bozhidar Dejanović who won in Sunday's local elections in Kllokot.

In 2022, Dejanović was sentenced to one year of suspended imprisonment for the criminal offense of "influencing the free will of voters."

At that time, it was determined that Dejanović, in his capacity as mayor, illegally secured votes for the political entity Serbian List, while another suspect for the same criminal offense, Saša Mirković, in his capacity as deputy mayor of the Municipality of Kllokot, secured votes for the political entity with serial number 129 “United Community – Ardijana Hodžić”.

Hodzic won a parliamentary seat reserved for the Bosniak community in the 2021 elections, but it was stripped from him, due to suspicions that he received it thanks to votes from the Serb community, on which "the Serbian List exerted influence to control some of the non-majority communities in Kosovo."

Sreqko Spasiqi has also been previously convicted, but for abuse of official position. /REL