Kosovo Serbs on Sunday boycotted municipal elections organized by the authorities in Pristina, in the north of the territory where representatives of the Serbian community walked out of local institutions in November, AFP and Agerpres reported.

The turnout was only 3.47%, 1,567 voters out of approximately 45,000 registered in the electoral rolls, the spokesman of the election commission in Pristina, Valmir Elezi, told the press.

19 polling stations, of which 13 are in containers temporarily installed by the Pristina authorities, closed at 19:00 local time (17:00 GMT), the president of the election commission, Kresnik Radonici, said. No incidents were reported.

A near-total boycott of these elections by Serbs in these four northern municipalities, where they form a large majority, risks exacerbating tensions that have persisted in recent months between the Kosovo government and the Serbs.

The elections took place more than a month after the EU announced an agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, agreed in Ohrid (North Macedonia), but not signed by the parties.

The main condition put forward by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is the creation of a Union of Serbian Municipalities (USM) in northern Kosovo, as stipulated in the 2013 agreement, but Pristina has so far opposed it, comparing the USO to Republika Srpska in Bosnia, citing instability. supported by the authorities of the majority of the Serbian establishment.