Ethnic Serbs have boycotted en masse local elections in four municipalities in northern Kosovo with ethnic Serb majorities where local mayors resigned in November 2022 to protest a cross-border dispute over vehicle registrations.
The Central Election Commission late on April 23 said preliminary results indicated that the Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party of Kosovo's prime minister, Albin Kurti, had won the mayoral races in North Mitrovica and Leposavic, while the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo had taken races in Zvecan and Zubin Potok.
As expected, turnout was low, after the dominant ethnic Serb party, Srpska Lista (Serbian List), which enjoys the support of neighboring Serbia's government, announced it was boycotting the votes. The commission said only 1,567 people -- or 3.47 percent of voters -- showed up at polling stations.
Despite the low turnout, the results are considered legally valid. There is no minimum turnout rule for the vote.
There are around 45,000 voters eligible to elect new mayors in North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan, and Zubin Potok, along with municipal assemblies in Zvecan and Leposavic.
RFE/RL correspondents reported that the only ballots that were being cast were submitted in places with ethnic Albanian residents.
WATCH: Most of the voters in RFE/RL footage from North Mitrovica and Zvecan are local Albanians, as are most of the candidates for mayor, due to a boycott by the dominant Kosovo Serb party, Serbian List.
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Serbs' Boycott Impacts Local Elections In Northern Kosovo
The result could further step up tensions between ethnic Serbs who are mostly loyal to neighboring Serbia and Kosovo's central government that represents the country's overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian majority.
Ethnic Serbs compose some 1-2 percent of Kosovo's population of around 2 million people.
Milan Radoicic, vice president of Serbian List, said following the vote that "those who think that with 1 or 2 percent of votes, they can lead the municipalities in the north, I have to say that the Serbian people will never allow them to do that."
A former chairwoman of Kosovo's Central Election Commission, Valdete Daka, told RFE/RL that so long as proper procedures were being followed, the tiny number of votes would likely result in mayoral seats being filled but not necessarily an end to the local problems.
Daka said the "nonappearance in the elections" was essentially "conveying a message to the government of Kosovo that they won't accept the leaders who emerge from these elections."
Fifteen years after the mostly ethnic Albanian former province declared independence from Serbia, Belgrade continues to oppose recognition of Kosovo's independence.
Many ethnic Serbs in Kosovo continue to lean heavily on support from Serbia and its nationalist president, Aleksandar Vucic.
The Serbian List party has demanded the formation of an Association of Serb Municipalities, as Kosovo's government pledged to the international community a decade ago, and the withdrawal of special units of the Kosovo Police from the north of the country.
A total of 10 candidates were competing for the mayorships, only one of whom -- independent candidate Sladjana Pantovic in Zvecan -- is an ethnic Serb. Pantovic was the rare exception among ethnic Serbs, turning out to vote at around 8 a.m.
Pantovic received just five votes, or 2.6 percent.
Another ethnic Serb candidate, Aleksandar Jablanovic from the Party of Kosovo Serbs, withdrew from the race in Leposavic three days ago, saying there were not "adequate conditions" for voting.
All of the remaining candidates were ethnic Albanians from the Mitrovica Civic Initiative, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, and Kurti's Self-Determination movement.
The election commission had to organize alternative polling stations for the April 23 voting because the schools that normally host the voting in northern Kosovo operate within the so-called parallel system run by Serbia's leadership.
Kurti this week accused Belgrade of intimidating Serbs from the north to discourage their participate in the voting.
Vucic alleged on April 22 that Kosovar authorities were effectively staging "an occupation" of the north after the elections.
The four northern municipalities have been without mayors since November, when Serbian representatives largely loyal to Belgrade resigned from their jobs over the Kosovar government's threatened imposition of a requirement for all vehicles to be registered locally.
The voting took place at 19 polling stations, 12 of which were organized by Kosovar authorities in the final days before the vote.
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani and the Central Election Commission urged citizens in the north to exercise their right to vote.
The international community has also expressed regret at the Serb-led boycott and urged all sides to exercise restraint.
Following the election, the U.S. Embassy in Pristina said, "We recognize Kosovan election officials' efforts to make polling places available to citizens wishing to exercise their right to vote, while minimizing potential points of tension."
"We likewise express our appreciation for the professionalism of the Kosovo Police, EU Rule of Law Mission (EULEX), and KFOR in ensuring a secure environment for the elections."
Kosovo remains blocked from many multinational organizations due to Serbian and Russian opposition to recognition, although there were recently signs of a possible breakthrough under EU-mediated talks.
The European Parliament on April 18 approved a decision on visa liberalization that will allow citizens of Kosovo to travel to most European countries without a visa by January 2024 at the latest. It is the last Western Balkan country to achieve such status.
U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier told RFE/RL's Balkan Service on April 21 that citizens in the north of Kosovo and all political parties "have a responsibility to respect the democratic process, recognizing that they all had the opportunity to register and participate."