Northern Kosovo Serbs set to reject Pristina in vote

(KOSOVSKA MITROVICA) - Serbs in northern Kosovo voted Tuesday on the first day of a defiant referendum widely expected to deliver an overwhelming "no" to the authority of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government.

The two-day vote is a reaction to EU-brokered talks between Belgrade and Pristina, with many local politicians arguing that the Serbian government should not be talking to the authorities in Pristina, much less making deals with them.

It is being seen as an act of defiance against the Serbian government -- but it has no legal weight and has been dismissed by both Belgrade and Pristina, as well as the international community.

Serbia and Serbs in northern Kosovo have never accepted Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, which is recognised by dozens of countries including the United States and most of Europe.

Some 35,000 voters in the majority Serb north are being asked: "Do you accept the institutions of the so-called republic of Kosovo seated in Pristina?"

The turnout at the first day of vote was 48 percent, electoral commission spokesman Ljubo Radovic said after the polling stations closed at 1800 GMT.

Polling stations in four municipalities will reopen on Wednesday at 0600 GMT and first partial results are expected after voting ends 12 hours later.

"The message will be that we ... will not recognise the authorities (in Pristina) that the Albanians imposed their will on us," Bojan Jovanovic, a voter in Kosovska Mitrovica, the largest northern town, told AFP.

"We want Kosovo to be a part of Serbia, that Serbs are in power where they are and that Albanians rule in places where they are in the majority," he said.

Belgrade and Pristina have been engaged in dialogue under EU auspices since March 2011 and have reached several accords addressing everyday problems created by Kosovo's independence.

Brussels has insisted that Serbia make progress in its relations with Kosovo to further its bid for EU membership, fanning fears in northern Kosovo that Belgrade could abandon its claim to the territory under EU pressure.

The referendum comes at a delicate time for Serbia which is awaiting an EU decision on its candidacy status in March.

An EU spokeswoman in Brussels on Wednesday said the referendum did not help the situation in northern Kosovo.

"We will get to the solution only through consultations and through dialogue," Maja Kocijancic said, noting that EU troubleshooter Robert Cooper was in Pristina to prepare a new round of talks.

Serbian President Boris Tadic issued a statement saying the referendum "is harming the interests of the (Serbian) state."

Insisting that Serbia "will never recognise Kosovo's independence," Tadic said the move by Kosovo Serbs "could only diminish" Serbia's attempts to "defend its legitimate interest" in the breakaway territory.

Nevertheless Kosovo government accused Serbia of organising the referendum, thus "clearly proving" Belgrade's "territorial pretensions on Kosovo."

"This illegal act which will bring an illegal and unacceptable result directly harms the state sovereignity of the Republic of Kosovo," the government said in a statement.

Earlier, Kosovo's deputy prime minister Hajredin Kuci told journalists it "has no political or legal effect".

Of a population of about two million, there are some 120,000 ethnic Serbs in Kosovo, 40,000 of whom live in the north on the border with Serbia and the rest in enclaves dotted around the territory.

The vote did not include the remaining Serb population.

The north was the scene of unrest in November, when some 50 soldiers from the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force were hurt as they moved to dismantle barricades erected at the border by Serbs.

However, KFOR and Kosovo police said there were no special security measures in place for the vote.

No incidents were reported on the first day of the referendum.