Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija

RASKA - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic met with representatives of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs in Raska, central Serbia, on Wednesday evening to discuss the political and security situation in the province and the necessity of preserving peace and stability "for the sake of the Serbs' survival and staying in Kosovo-Metohija."

The head of the Social Democratic Union, SDU, has accused the Belgrade-backed party representing Kosovo Serbs, Srpska Lista, SL, of trying to ensure the election of sympathetic MPs among Kosovo's non-Serb minorities communities.

Duda Balje made the accusation during a debate hosted in Pristina by BIRN Kosovo's Jeta Xharra on Wednesday.

An instruction issued by the Kosovo Central Election Commission, CEC - which says people can only vote in the elections on October 6 using personal documents issued by Kosovo institutions - has drawn a furious reaction from non-Albanian community representatives.

Srpska Lista's showing in elections is often taken as an indicator of the degree to which Kosovo Serbs support the Serbian government's policy towards the predominantly ethnic Albanian country.

After Serbian state-owned news agency Tanjug reported that a delegation from the main Kosovo Serb political party Srpska Lista (Serbian List) was in Washington to meet officials from the State Department, Congress and the Pentagon, the State Department said that it did not have any such meeting to announce. 

The SNS party won 67.09 percent of the votes in the Serbian parliamentary elections in Kosovo, the party announced based on 100 percent of ballots processed.

SNS official Marko Djuric, who also heads the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, told reporters in Belgrade late on Monday that it was "a historic result for the SNS in Kosovo and Metohija."

Members of the Belgrade-backed Srpska List have started discussions with other Serbian parties in Kosovo, fleshing out options on how to run together in the upcoming general elections on June 8.

Goran Rakic, from the Srpska list, who became mayor of North Mitrovica in the last local elections, told Balkan Insight that consultations with other Serbian parties were ongoing.