Serbian List – chronicle of a controlled return

After years of tensions, boycotts and clashes that turned northern Kosovo into the epicenter of ongoing crises, the constitution of local authorities in the four northern municipalities after the October elections was carried out in accordance with the country's constitutional order. But, for those familiar with political developments, the return of the Serbian List to local government marks more a repositioning controlled by official Belgrade than a sincere integration into Kosovo's institutions. This has brought back the dilemmas about the real representation of the Serbian community and the old cycle of boycott and political blackmail that has characterized this party for more than a decade.

For the first time after years of continuous crises, the inauguration procedures of new local authorities in the predominantly Serb-populated north took place without political drama, proving that Kosovo's constitutional order functions even where it has been openly challenged for years.

The election of mayors and members of the municipal assemblies in North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviq passed without incident, without tension and in full compliance with the Constitution and laws of Kosovo.

But procedural normality does not diminish the political essence of this return. Political observers say that the Serbian List, which regained power in these municipalities, has returned to power not as an expression of a new integration, but as a result of a strategically calculated move by Belgrade.

Since its establishment in 2013, the Serbian List has functioned as a political instrument of official Belgrade in Kosovo, moving from formal involvement in institutions, to coordinated withdrawal, boycott and selective returns, always in line with the interests of the Serbian government and not with the needs of the Serbian community in Kosovo.

Following the recent local elections, the Serbian List regained power in four Serb-majority municipalities, ending a two-and-a-half-year period when these municipalities were led by Albanian mayors elected in electoral processes that were boycotted by the Serb community.

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The North functioned institutionally without the participation of the Serbian List, a development accompanied by the expansion of state authority and the weakening of the influence of parallel structures.

During this period, in cooperation with the central government, northern municipalities have closed a number of parallel Serbian structures, stopped the use of the dinar, and integrated banking, postal, and administrative services.

The president of the Forum for Ethnic Relations in Belgrade, Dusan Janjic, says that this return may produce "limited stability," but does not represent a long-term solution to the crisis of political representation of Serbs in Kosovo.

"The situation has returned to where it was before the security crisis and before the events in Banjska. We have a new normal: Serbs won their municipalities, but many of them are under pressure, especially municipalities associated with the Association. One of the main reasons for the return is the international pressure on Vučić. In Serbia, part of the public considers him a traitor, because he withdrew Serbs from Kosovo institutions and pushed them towards boycotting them," said Janjić.

According to him, the Serbian List does not possess independent politics nor real resources outside of Belgrade's support.

"As long as it is under full control from Belgrade, it cannot be a serious partner for dialogue nor for building the future status of the Serbian community in Kosovo," he stressed.

Two periods

The activity of Kosovo Serb political parties is divided into two main periods. The first, from 2000 to 2013, and the second, which began in 2013, after the signing of the Brussels Agreement, and is still ongoing.

The first period was characterized mainly by the political refusal of Serbs, through their political representatives, to integrate into Kosovo's institutions. The events of March 2004 marked the end of the participation of Serbian political parties in Kosovo's institutional life, despite international efforts to include them.

This led to a boycott of the 2004 and 2007 parliamentary elections. The activity of Serbian parties in Kosovo was also dictated by developments in Belgrade, where during this period there was a political split in the co-government between Boris Tadic and Vojislav Kostunica.

The politics of the Serbs of northern Kosovo during this period developed through parallel structures.

A party built on dependency

The Serbian List was created in 2013 following the Brussels Agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, which aimed to dismantle parallel Serbian structures and integrate them into the Kosovo system. The establishment of this party was a prerequisite for Serbs to participate for the first time in the elections that Kosovo would organize in the four northern municipalities, on 3 November 2013.

From the beginning, it was built as a political monopoly of Kosovo Serbs, and was financially and politically supported by Belgrade. In the first local elections organized by Kosovo institutions in November 2013, the Serbian List participated only after public calls from the Serbian government and won the majority of municipalities where Serbs dominate.

It has consistently refused to behave as an autonomous political entity. Swearing in Kosovo symbols, implementing state laws, and accepting institutional sovereignty were seen more as temporary concessions than as constitutional obligations. Local decision-making has often been dictated by Belgrade's directives, turning municipal government into an external political instrument.

In the local elections of 2013 and 2017, as well as in three parliamentary election cycles, the Serbian List consolidated this dominance through systematic pressure. Other Serbian parties were dissolved, marginalized, or eliminated through political and economic blackmail.

The first chairman of the Serbian List was Aleksandar Jablanović, currently the chairman of the Serbian Party of Kosovo and an opponent of the entity that once belonged to it. Jablanović was dismissed from the post of chairman in late 2015. After him, the party was led by Slavko Simić until mid-2017.

This party has also gone through periods of internal divisions. The most serious one occurred during Simić's leadership when internal clashes for dominance between deputies from the south and the north almost split the party. However, the split did not occur at that time and an almost absolute dominance of the so-called northern structures was established.

In 2013, there was pressure on voters to participate in the Kosovo elections. But in each subsequent election cycle, local and international missions have documented pressure from the Serbian List on citizens to vote for a single political entity.

That same year, several serious incidents occurred, including the breaking of ballot boxes on election day and the murder of one of the three candidates for mayor of North Mitrovica, Dimitrije Janićijević, in the middle of the election campaign. During the same campaign, another candidate, Oliver Ivanović, was arrested on charges of war crimes by the Kosovo authorities. He spent three and a half years in prison and was murdered less than a year after being released on bail, for which crime one of the main suspects is Milan Radoićić, who was the deputy leader of the Serbian List, a post he left after taking responsibility for the terrorist attack in Banjska.

Boycott as a tool of pressure

After its inclusion in the institutions, the Serbian List participated in all electoral processes until 2022, when a period of political escalation began. It culminated in November 2022, when Serb representatives massively withdrew from Kosovo’s institutions – from the government, police and judiciary, turning the boycott into a political weapon. The decision was justified by the issue of license plates, but in essence it served to destabilize the institutional order in the north.

The culmination of this policy of tension was the terrorist attack in Banjska on September 24, 2023, led by Radoićić. The attack, which killed Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku, exposed the dangerous connection between politics, illegal structures, and organized violence.

The reason for this development, before three elections this year, was the attempts to ban this political entity from participating in the competition. In the regular elections for the Assembly of Kosovo held at the beginning of the year, in the local elections in the fall, as well as before the early elections of December 28, the Central Election Commission did not certify this party and its candidates, since members of the Vetëvendosje Movement voted against, while others abstained, with the exception of members of the Serbian List and the chairman of the CEC who voted for certification. The decisions have always been appealed and won by the Serbian List after appealing to the Electoral Complaints Panel.

After the February elections, the Serbian List won 9 out of 10 seats for Serbs in the Assembly, while in the local elections it won 9 out of 10 municipalities with a Serb majority in the first round. It also won in the Klokot election, where it went to a runoff, after the opposing candidate in the race joined the Serbian List before the elections.

Dušan Janjić estimates that, despite returning to power, the Serbian List is politically exhausted today.

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"They are actors on the margins. They no longer have power, influence, or credibility. This is dangerous, not only for Kosovo, but also for the Serbian community itself," Janjic said.

According to him, the fate of the Serbian List is directly linked to Aleksandar Vučić's stay in power. He expresses hope that after the current Serbian president loses power, there will also be political pluralism among Kosovo Serbs, a potential that exists but has been suppressed for years.