BELGRADE, January 17./TASS/. Banning ethnic Serbs in Kosovo from voting at Serbia’s referendum on constitutional amendments has caused the serious concern of the Russian observers, Pavel Andreyev from the Russian Central Election Commission told a briefing on Monday.
"The main thing that invited our concerns and what we monitored closely is the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and the stance taken by Pristina, practically blocking the possibility for the Serbs to express their will," Andreyev said.
"I would like to note the special efforts taken by the election commission of Serbia in arranging additional possibilities for the voting of Kosovo Serbs in the nearest four cities of central Serbia. According to our information, about 92,000 voters are registered in Kosovo and Metohija, and over 20,000 of them could vote, which is not a bad result given the urgency of the situation," he went on to say.
However, thinking about the presidential and parliamentary elections in April, the voting in Kosovo and Metohija will be among the issues that the Serbian election system and its authorities will have to search for the answers for, Andreyev went on to say. "We have heard assessments that possibly Pristina won’t take such measures, but the faith in it is slim," he stressed.