Slobodan Samardzic, the Minister for Kosovo-Metohija in Government of Serbia, called on UNMIK Chief Joachim Ruecker to let the local elections in Kosovo be organized by the Serbian authorities.

In reply to Ruecker’s letter on the issue, the Kosovo minister yesterday said that UNMIK was not in a position to organize local elections for the Kosovo Serbs because, last summer, UNMIK chief himself had changed electoral regulations on the basis of the Martti Ahtisaari Plan for supervised independence. So, in so doing, the UNMIK chief had breached UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Samardzic added that if UNMIK has to organize local elections in Kosovo, Ruecker would first of all have to adjust Resolution 1244’s electoral regulations via a new ruling, something that was unlikely to happen. Hence, only Serbia and the existing Serb local authorities in Kosovo could organize such a vote.

The Republic Electoral Commission’s decision on the local elections in Kosovo on May 11 was published in the Official Gazette yesterday.

Meanwhile, Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci have expressed their opposition to local elections on May 11. They said they do not wanting Serbian elections to be legitimized in the province.

So, Kosovo’s top brass had metting with Ruecker and the International Civil Representative to Kosovo Pieter Feith to ask UNMIK not to permit Serbian elections to be held in Kosovo.