Kosovo Election Violence Underscores Depth of Challenges to Normalization

Kosovo Election Violence Underscores Depth of Challenges to Normalization

After weekend election violence in Kosovo forced polling places to close early and left ballot boxes destroyed, leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are meeting in Brussels today to discuss next steps.

At the same time, officials have announced that the elections will be repeated in Mitrovica, the northern Serb-dominated municipality in majority-Albanian Kosovo where the attacks took place. Prime Minister Ivica Dacic of Serbia and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of Kosovo are meeting to determine how to move forward on a pact that aims to integrate ethnic Serbs with the rest Kosovo.

Under the terms of a European Union-mediated agreement struck in Brussels between Belgrade and Pristina in April, Belgrade agreed to cede authority over Kosovo, its former province which declared independence in 2008 and is still home to a large community of ethnic Serbs, in exchange for the possibility of EU accession.

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