The Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Jakup Krasniqi, has said that Serbian elections in Kosovo will be prevented by force if necessary, electronic media in Belgrade and Pristina quoted him on Tuesday as saying in an interview.
Krasniqi told the Albanian-language RTV21 network that the Kosovo parliament had passed a resolution last Thursday banning Serbian elections in Kosovo, and that now the government should take the necessary steps to enforce the resolution.
When asked if the resolution obliged the government to use force to prevent the elections, Krasniqi said that the resolution obliged the government to prevent any action that was in contravention of Kosovo's constitution and laws. "That, of course, also implies the use of force," he explained.
Serbia has called general, regional and local elections for May 6, and local elections should cover Serbian-majority communities in northern Kosovo.
The Serbian state television network RTS quoted an unnamed Serbian government source as saying on Tuesday that in the coming days the government would send a letter to the international civil mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, so that an agreement would be reached for elections to be held in Kosovo as well.
