{"id":499,"date":"2013-11-20T18:29:25","date_gmt":"2013-11-20T17:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/?p=499"},"modified":"2013-11-20T18:29:25","modified_gmt":"2013-11-20T17:29:25","slug":"kosovo-serbia-pms-trade-blame-over-poll-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/kosovo-serbia-pms-trade-blame-over-poll-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Kosovo, Serbia PMs Trade Blame Over Poll Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/dacic-taci_520x320_101658.jpg\" alt=\"dacic-taci_520x320_101658\" width=\"510\" height=\"320\" class=\"aligntop size-full wp-image-500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hashim Thaci and Ivica Dacic gave contradictory assessments about the troubled local elections in Kosovo at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Leaders of Kosovo and Serbia have given opposing verdicts on the troubled local elections in mainly Serbian parts of northern Kosovo.<\/p>\n<p>While Kosovo&#8217;s PM Thaci described the process as a \u201cvictory\u201d for all citizens, Serbian PM Dacic said Pristina had \u201cfailed\u201d in prepare for the elections in the north.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhereas Serbia invested maximum efforts to encourage Kosovo Serbs to turn out in large numbers, Pristina failed to provide even the most basic conditions for the ballot,&#8221; Dacic claimed in his speech held at the UN Security Council meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Nationwide local elections were held in Kosovo on November 3, the Serb-run northern part included.<\/p>\n<p>But most Serbs in northern Kosovo boycotted the vote. Masked men also attacked several polling stations in the divided town of Mitrovica, causing several to close early.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, a repeat vote had to be held in parts of northern Mitrovica on November 17.<\/p>\n<p>Thaci said the attacks on polling stations were \u201corchestrated\u201d and would \u201charm [Kosovo&#8217;s] aspiration to establish a comprehensive and tolerant state and to integrate in the European Union&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>As none of the candidates in northern Mitrovica, achieved an outright victory on November 17, Krstimir Pantic and Oliver Ivanovic will compete again on December 1 in runoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Runoffs will also be held in 24 other municipalities throughout the country.<\/p>\n<p>The results of the local elections in Kosovo are seen as a crucial element of the EU-brokered deal on normalizing relations between Pristina and Belgrade.<\/p>\n<p>It is also a pre-condition for the formation of the Association of Serbian Municipalities, an autonomous body foreseen in the deal.\/balkaninsight\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hashim Thaci and Ivica Dacic gave contradictory assessments about the troubled local elections in Kosovo at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday. Leaders of Kosovo and Serbia have given opposing verdicts on the troubled local elections in mainly Serbian parts of northern Kosovo. While Kosovo&#8217;s PM Thaci described the process as a \u201cvictory\u201d for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-balkans","category-16"],"views":666,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions\/501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}