"Despite campaign boycott, Serbs will participate"

"Despite campaign boycott, Serbs will participate"

BELGRADE, PRIŠTINA -- Despite the announced boycott of the election campaign, analyst Dušan Janjić expects the five Serbs lists to participate in early elections in Kosovo.

Commenting on the fact that at the beginning of the election campaign, which ends on June 6, the Serb List announced a boycott, Janjić said they were "campaigning in this way and showing they are protecting the interests of Serbs in the best way."

He believes that "Belgrade can do a lot in the political and partisan sense," but that the Serbian state has its hands tied "because these elections for the international community do not have the importance of a direct implementation of the Brussels agreement, as do local elections, and that is why officials of Belgrade will not even be able to attend."

"Belgrade can influence elections through parties and by sending a unified message," this analyst further told the RTS, adding that "Belgrade has not sent the right invitation to Kosovo Serbs to participate in elections," but that he expected this would happen "in a couple of days."

The Serb List said it was opting for a boycott since ballot papers had "the coat of arms of Kosovo" printed on them, and that the electoral material was thus not status neutral. Janjić said it was a "result of an agreement between Belgrade and Priština, according to the Brussels agreement these elections are under the laws of Kosovo."

"These are the same emblems that were there before, these are the emblems of the RIK," he was quoted as saying. Janjić then "reminded of the fact that the Serb List last time also cited it as a reason for giving up the campaign," describin it as "their mechanism not to...