Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Belgrade on Tuesday of meddling in the upcoming local elections in Kosovo — allegations swiftly denied by the head of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petković, who said Belgrade “does not interfere in elections in Kosovo because Kosovo is Serbia.”
At the very beginning of the 270th regular session of the Kosovo government, before addressing the agenda, Kurti alleged that Serbia was attempting to influence the upcoming local vote through “promises of jobs, financial incentives, and conditioning and blackmailing with social benefits.”
“As well as through statements by Serbian state officials claiming that only the Serb List defends Serbia in Kosovo — as recently said by the former Serbian prime minister and current advisor to the president, Miloš Vučević, and earlier by President Aleksandar Vučić himself — these represent repeated methods of Serbia’s interference in Kosovo’s electoral processes,” Kurti stated.
He stated that the EU Election Observation Mission for the February 9th parliamentary elections in Kosovo had already recorded Serbia’s involvement.
“Interference in the elections of another country represents a form of undermining democracy and sovereignty. Yet, Serbia has faced no consequences from the European Union. This means Serbia is not changing its behavior,” Kurti said, adding that Serbia’s “interventions in Kosovo are even more serious than those carried out by Russia in Europe.”
Kurti called on the EU to condemn and sanction Serbia — an EU candidate country — for what he described as violations of good-neighborly relations and the 2023 Brussels Basic Agreement.
“We call on the European Union to condemn Belgrade’s interference in Kosovo’s democratic elections and to sanction Serbia, which is an EU candidate, for acting against the principles of good-neighborly relations and in violation of the Basic Agreement,” Kurti urged.
Petković: “Kosovo is Serbia”
In a brief reaction posted on X, the head of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petković, rejected Kurti’s claims.
“Belgrade does not interfere in elections in Kosovo, because Kosovo is Serbia,” he wrote.
He accused Kurti of hypocrisy, claiming the Kosovo prime minister “interferes in Serbia’s internal affairs” and “openly supports the violent blockades in Belgrade.”
“Kurti is nervous because he knows the Serb List will regain control over the four municipalities in the north and confirm victory south of the Ibar! And the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija will always have the support of Aleksandar Vučić. Until the Serb List’s victory,” Petković stated.
БГ се не меша у изборе на KиМ, јер Kосово је 🇷🇸. Онај ко се меша и отворено подржава блокадерско насиље у БГ је Kурти, који је баш нервозан јер зна да ће СЛ да врати 4 општине на северу и потврди победу јужно од Ибра! А Срби с KиМ увек ће имати подршку @avucic
До победе СЛ!— Петар Петковић (@PetkovicPetar) October 7, 2025
When Kurti Campaigned in Serbia
While Kurti accuses Vučić of election meddling, he himself was actively involved in Serbia’s 2023 parliamentary and local elections, supporting Shaip Kamberi’s Albanian list “The Albanian Struggle Continues.”
Kurti held a rally with the list in Pristina and, in the final days of the campaign, directly called on Albanian voters in Serbia to support Kamberi and oppose what he called “Serbia’s authoritarian and anti-Albanian regime.”
“It is time for the authoritarian regime in Belgrade, no matter how nationalist, anti-Albanian, chauvinist, and authoritarian it may be, to face a strong opposition showing that Albanians neither submit nor give up,” Kurti said at the time.
Shortly after taking office, Kurti also participated in campaign events ahead of Albania’s elections.
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