After visiting Kosovo, Student List candidate calls it part of Serbia

After visiting Kosovo, Fegja Dimoviq, a candidate for the Student List in Serbia, said Kosovo holds an important place in the list’s political program. According to him, the list sees Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia and a pillar of its spiritual and cultural identity.

Dimoviq traveled to Kosovo over the weekend with five other candidates and representatives of the student movement. For them, it was their first visit since their victory in Serbia’s elections.

In a Facebook post, he wrote that they were returning from the visit with the strength they would need to free the country from organized crime. Dimoviq conveyed love and solidarity to fellow Serbs in Kosovo and promised they would never forget them.

The Student List has said its position on Kosovo will be based on Serbia’s Constitution, which treats it as part of Serbian territory. Kosovo, meanwhile, declared independence in 2008 and has been recognized by many countries.

Photographs from the visit show that, alongside Dimoviq, the delegation included Millena Petroviq, Emillija Markoviq, Jugosllav Gashiq, from the University of Prishtina based in North Mitrovica, and Nemanja Karoviq.

The Diocese of Raška and Prizren announced on Sunday evening that, during its stay in Kosovo, the delegation met only with representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

According to the diocese’s statement, the candidates spoke at Gračanica Monastery with Teodosije, the Metropolitan of Raška and Prizren. The meeting was intended to give them a firsthand understanding of life in the Serb community and the challenges facing the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo.

The statement said Student List representatives expressed a willingness to devote attention, through their future work in institutions, to protecting the Serb community, its rights and Orthodox holy sites. They also expressed a willingness to maintain ongoing communication with Serb residents of Kosovo.

Radio Free Europe asked the student movement for details about the visit, its purpose and its future plans, including the possibility of meetings with political representatives of Kosovo Serbs. It had received no response by the time the report was published.

On November 7, Jugosllav Gashiq, a Student List candidate from Kosovo, reiterated that they would not cooperate with the Serbian List. He blamed that party for what he described as a deterioration in the position of Serbs in Kosovo.

The Serbian List is the main political force representing Kosovo Serbs. Until now, it has operated with the support of the Serbian Progressive Party and Serbia’s former president, Aleksandar Vuçiq.

The party holds nine of the ten seats reserved for the Serb community in the Kosovo Assembly and governs all Serb-majority municipalities in the country.

After the Student List’s victory in Serbia’s parliamentary elections on October 25, the Serbian List said it acknowledged the results and expressed hope that institutional cooperation would continue.

The student movement’s victory ended Vuçiq’s 14-year rule. He conceded defeat immediately after the polls closed.

The Student List is expected to form Serbia’s new government on its own, but it is not yet known whom it will nominate for prime minister. It has not presented a clear political program either.