Vladan Kuzmanović of the Student List, which won Serbia’s parliamentary elections on October 25, said the Serbian List in Kosovo must begin working in the interests of the Serb community rather than those of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
“First, we will help them live with dignity. After that, we will continue the negotiations that have already begun but have reached a dead end because of this government’s hypocritical policies. Citizens must be able to live with dignity, without anyone oppressing them, including powerful figures at the local level,” he said in a statement to Belgrade-based N1 television.
The Serbian List was established in 2013 with the support of the SNS and former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. The party has not commented on the Student List’s victory in Sunday’s elections.
The Serbian List, the largest party representing Serbs in Kosovo, holds nine of the ten seats reserved for the Serb community in the Kosovo Assembly. The remaining seat is held by a representative of Nenad Rašić’s For Freedom, Justice and Survival party.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has so far made no clear statement regarding the Student List’s victory or potential cooperation with Serbia’s new authorities.
At the government meeting on October 28, he merely noted that, following Sunday’s elections in Serbia, the SNS had lost its parliamentary majority, while Ivica Dačić’s Socialist Party of Serbia had failed to secure representation in parliament.
“A quarter of a century after Milošević and Šešelj were defeated at the beginning of the 21st century, their political successors, Vučić and Dačić, have also suffered defeat,” Kurti said.
Earlier, Nenad Rašić, a minister in Kurti’s government, told Radio Free Europe that he expected the victory of the Student List to pave the way for the resumption of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina on normalizing relations. He also expressed hope that both sides would pursue European integration.
Kosovo and Serbia have been engaged in EU-mediated dialogue since 2011. However, Prime Minister Kurti has made the continuation of high-level political talks conditional on Serbia extraditing Milan Radoičić, who claimed responsibility for the armed attack in Banjska, in the municipality of Zvečan.
The Student List has yet to articulate a clear position on the Banjska attack or Radoičić.
On October 27, Ilija Srdanović, the Student List’s lead candidate, told Radio Free Europe in an interview that he could not address the issue in a personal capacity before a new government was formed in Serbia.
“But, of course, we will seek to make decisions on all such matters at a later stage, in accordance with the legal procedures applicable in the Republic of Serbia,” he said.
He also declined to say whether he would hold talks with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, explaining that the Student List had not yet received its mandate.
Nevertheless, Srdanović said Serbia’s new authorities would continue the dialogue on Kosovo and implement the Brussels Agreement on the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, but in accordance with Serbia’s Constitution.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia continues to regard it as part of its territory.
