“Much water will still flow down the Ibar before we realize that Pero should do his job, Rexhep his, Hasan his — and not everyone trying to be a musician, politician, doctor, president, mayor, grocer, and farmer,” says one Mitrovica resident, summing up in one sentence the irony, weariness, and awareness of change that can be heard these days on the streets of North Mitrovica.
Two weeks after the local elections in Kosovo — in which Srpska lista once again won a convincing majority in Serb-majority municipalities — residents of North Mitrovica are speaking more openly than before, caught somewhere between pessimism, irony, and a cautious hope that “maybe new people” from the “old list” could bring some change.
Srpska lista, led in this city by Milan Radojević, won 60.16 percent of the vote. Three years ago, Radojević was also mayor when the Srpska lista withdrew from local institutions — alongside Serb police officers, judges, prosecutors, and MPs in the Kosovo Assembly.
Vetëvendosje then established control over the North and consolidated its power, while local Serbs began to speak more openly about repression.
After these latest elections, residents appear more willing to talk again. Many stress that what matters most to them is that “our institutions and our mayor return” and that “things finally calm down.”
“Yes, it’s the same list, but maybe new people — maybe they’ll look more after this people,” says one Mitrovica resident.
Others remain skeptical, reminding that any possible changes “have to be approved by the ministries,” so they do not expect rapid progress.
“They’ve taken everything from us — the only thing left is the air,” says another respondent.
Many Mitrovica residents say they are simply tired of the same patterns repeating themselves.
“Zero it was, zero it will remain,” says an elderly passerby, while another adds: “One steps down, another steps up.”
Some also point to unfairness in the process — claiming that jobs for Kosovo-backed Serb candidates were promised even before the voting began.
“Let the people choose, not that leadership positions are given before they even go to vote. I saw it — they say the situation in the North is safe. Is it safe?!” one citizen asks, describing what he experienced as injustice.
Another man insists that renewal must come from the younger generation: “Everything old doesn’t work. Everything young — here and there — must come. Youth wins.”
More and more citizens now shift the topic away from politics and toward everyday life — asking for “a bit more justice,” “proper parking spaces,” “revitalized green areas,” and “law and order — not according to favoritism.”
“People can’t just put up café gardens wherever they like,” says one man, adding that “everyone should do their job — Pero his, Rexhep his, Hasan his — and not everyone be a politician or president.”
Others appeal for “stability, peace, and for workers to return to their jobs.”
After years of life experience, one passerby sums it up succinctly:
“Everything’s the same — only Tito is gone.”
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
