In northern Kosovo, a referendum is being held to oust the mayors of four Serb-majority municipalities.

The mayors in the so-called Serbian municipalities of Northern Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zubin Potok and Zvečan were elected in April 2023, in elections that were boycotted by the Serbs, so turnout hovered around 3%.

All four mayors are Albanians.

The Serbian List, the largest Serbian party controlled by Belgrade, called on voters to abstain.

The political representatives of the Serbs in Kosovo claim that the democratic conditions for holding the referendum are not met.

The Serbs as well as the international factor questioned the validity of the elections due to the low voter turnout and demanded their repetition.

The Serbian parties organized a collection of signatures demanding the dismissal of the mayors. The Kosovo government was forced to back down and called a referendum.

The political representatives of the Serbs, however, decided to abstain, complaining that there were illegal registrations of voters in the electoral rolls.

Serbian voters responded to the call to boycott the referendum.

Turnout, as reported by Serbian media, is almost non-existent in most polling stations.