Kosovo Mitrovica votes for mayor

Mayoral elections are underway on Sunday in Serb-dominated part of Mitrovica north in Kosovo. All 33 voting centers were opened at 7:00 o'clock local time in the morning. About 28,000 eligible voters vote for one of four candidates, two respective ones from both Serb and Albanian camps. Three candidates, Goran Rakic from Srpska Initiative, Musa Miftari from Albanian LDK and Florent Azemi from Albanian PDK casted their votes in the morning. However, the last one, Oliver Ivanovic, had to vote in a detention center in Pristina. He was arrested by EU Rule of Law (EULEX) police in January under war crime charges and murder dating from 1999 and 2000. In the streets of Mitrovica there is an evidence of increased presence of security force, mainly Kosovo police, but also EULEX and NATO-lead peacekeepers (KFOR). Besim Hoti, deputy head of regional police in northern Mitrovica, said the election process started calmly in the morning and no incidents have occurred. Election process in Mitrovica is facilitated by OSCE mission in Kosovo. Nikola Gaon, spokesperson of the OSCE, said the votes will be counted in the polling centers in Mitrovica. Sunday's elections are a repeated process after the first elected mayor Krstimir Pantic rejected the mandate in January by refusing to give the oath. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade does not recognize the secession.