Srpska Lista Scores Landslide Victory in North Kosovo Polls

Preliminary results from Sunday's snap elections in four municipalities in northern Kosovo show that candidates from the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party secured an expected landslide victory, with each of them taking over 90 per cent of the votes.

Srpska Lista supporters began celebrating in Car Lazar Square in the north of the divided town of Mitrovica right after the polls closed at 7pm on Sunday, and party officials publicly called Serbian President Alexander Vucic during the celebration to inform him of their victory.

Vucic said during the public phone call that "this is the best confirmation of the policy of unity", while the crowd chanted: "Aco [Aleksandar], Serb!"

During the call, Goran Rakic, the head of Srpska Lista, said: "We celebrate the unity of the Serbian people and our stronger ties with the home country Serbia."

Rakic swept to victory in North Mitrovica with 90.1 per cent of the vote, Srdjan Vulovic in Zubin Potok with 94.5 per cent, Zoran Todic in Leposavic wth 96.6 per cent and Vucina Jankovic in Zvecan with 94.7 per cent - all of them Srpska Lista candidates.

Almost 25,000 people voted, taking the turnout to 42.42 per cent, slightly higher than in the last municipal elections, which saw 41.9 per cent of voters cast their ballots.

Srpska Lista was the only party representing Serbs that contested the snap elections. Two ethnic Albanian parties, the Democratic Party of Kosovo and Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) also ran candidates.

The polls were called after four ethnic Serb mayors in northern Kosovo, all from Srpska Lista, resigned in November 2018 over a decision by Kosovo's government to hike customs tariffs on Serbian products.

They have warned that they will resign again if the tariffs are...