Local elections are held today in the Presheva Valley. From 07:00 in Presevo and Bujanoc, the voting centers for the local level elections were opened. This has been confirmed for Radio and Television of Kosovo by the Municipal Electoral Commissions in Presheva and Bujanoc, where no incidents of any kind have been recorded.
Presheva has about 43,500 voters who will vote in 37 polling stations for 39 mandates. A total of 43,046 voters have the right to vote in Bujanoc, who will vote in 59 polling stations for 41 mandates. In both municipalities, the same rule applies, of reaching the majority of 21 mandates of councilors to achieve the election of the mayor of the municipality, who is therefore not elected by direct vote. In Presheva, 6 Albanian entities and 1 from the Serbian minority are competing. In Bujanoc, meanwhile, 4 subjects of Albanians, 4 of Serbs and 1 subject led by the Roma minority are competing. This proportion shows that in Preševo there is no risk of Serbian entities taking over power, while Bujanoc considers it necessary to unify the Albanian political factor and the largest possible turnout of Albanians in the voting, so that the city has the opportunity to be led. from the side of the Albanians.
For this purpose, 3 out of 4 Albanian political entities: the Party for Democratic Action led by Shaip Kamberi, the Democratic Party led by Nagip Arifi and the Movement for Democratic Progress headed by Shqiprim Musliu, have signed a pre-election coalition agreement according to which the entity that receives more mandates will lead with the municipality of Bujanovac and for this there will be a guarantee of the votes of the councilors of the entities that receive fewer mandates. This is to continue the agreement that was reached for an Albanian coalition in 2020 with the help of the former foreign minister of Albania, Gent Cakaj. However, the only Albanian entity “Alternative for Change”, which is led by Arbër Pajaziti in the municipality of Bujanoci, is not included in this pre-election coalition.
The only Albanian deputy in the Parliament of Serbia, Shaip Kamberi, in a post he made the day before, spoke about the interference of the representatives of the Serbian state bodies in the will of the citizens, on the eve of the June 2 elections. Kamberi, has invited the leaders of the state bodies to stay away from interference on which list and which candidate they should vote for.
Regarding the serious and discriminatory situation in the Presheva Valley, just one day before the elections, we had a reaction from four Euro members of the European Parliament, who demanded respect for the rights of the Albanians of the Presheva Valley, as specified in the Agreement of To the Consul in 2001. In this letter, the MEPs: Viola von Carmon – Taubadel, Rainer Wieland, Mixhael Gahler and Thijs Reuten remind Serbia that Albanians in the Preševo Valley face various forms of discrimination, such as the deactivation of addresses, limited access in education and health and Serbia is reminded that not addressing these issues endangers regional stability.
