The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is the officially mandated mission of the United Nations in Kosovo. The UNMIK describes its mandate as being to "help the United Nations Security Council achieve an overall objective, namely, to ensure conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants of Kosovo and advance regional stability in the Western Balkans."
Parliamentary elections to the Assembly of Kosovo have been held four times since 1999 with the latest in December 2010. The Assembly was an institution within the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) established by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to provide 'provisional, democratic self-government' in advance of a decision on the final status of Kosovo. Kosovo, formerly a province of Serbia, came under UN administration in 1999 and unilaterally declared its independence in February 2008. The Assembly elected in 2007 continued in office after the declaration of independence.
The politics of Kosovo takes place in a framework of a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President (Presidenti) is the head of state and the Prime Minister (Kryeministri) the head of government. Parliamentary elections are held every four years, the most recent in 2021.
The administrative divisions of Serbia are regulated by the Government of Serbia Enactment of 29 January 1992, and by the Law on Territorial Organization adopted by the National Assembly of Serbia on 29 December 2007.
The political status of Kosovo, also known as the Kosovo question, is the subject of a long-running political and territorial dispute between the Serbian government and the Government of Kosovo, stemming from the breakup of Yugoslavia (1991–92) and the ensuing Kosovo War (1998–99). In 1999, the administration of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija was handed on an interim basis to the United Nations under the terms of UNSCR 1244 which ended the Kosovo conflict of that year. That resolution reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Serbia over Kosovo but required the UN administration to promote the establishment of 'substantial autonomy and self-government' for Kosovo pending a 'final settlement' for negotiation between the parties.
The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, and by the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu. It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions; the first was proclaimed on 7 September 1990.
The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, commonly known as Kosovo and abbreviated to Kosmet or KiM, is an autonomous province defined by the Constitution of Serbia that occupies the southernmost part of Serbia. The territory is the subject of an ongoing political and territorial dispute between Republic of Serbia and the partially recognised Republic of Kosovo. Its claimed administrative capital and largest city is Pristina.
The Assembly of the Community of Municipalities of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, was the assembly of the association of local governments created by the municipal authorities in Kosovo elected in the May 11, 2008 municipal elections called by the Government of Serbia. It was created in Kosovska Mitrovica to represent the municipalities that defy the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. The Assembly was composed of 45 representatives delegated by 26 municipalities. The majority of delegates were ethnic Serbs, while some represented Gorani, Bosniak and Romani communities.
The Governance of Kosovo operates in the context of the disputed territory of Kosovo.
Snežana Paunović is a Serbian politician. She has served several terms in the National Assembly of Serbia as a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and is currently a vice-president of the assembly.
Slaviša Ristić is a Serbian politician and figure in the Kosovo Serb community. He was for many years the president of Zubin Potok, a predominantly Serb municipality in northern Kosovo. He is currently serving his second term in the National Assembly of Serbia.
Dragan Šormaz is a Serbian politician who served in the National Assembly of Serbia on an almost continuous basis from 2001 to 2022. At one time a leading member of the Democratic Party of Serbia, he later joined the Serbian Progressive Party and was its member from 2010 to 2023.
Zvonimir Stević is a Serbian politician. He has served several terms in the assemblies of Yugoslavia and Serbia as a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia. From 2008 to 2012, he held a high-ranking position in Serbia's Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija.
Andreja Mladenović is a Serbian politician and administrator. He was the deputy mayor of Belgrade from 2014 to 2018 and was an assistant to the mayor from 2018 to 2022. In August 2022, he was appointed as director of the Belgrade Metro.
Dragiša Krstović is a Kosovo Serb politician. He was a prominent figure in the Kosovo Serb community in the early years of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) mandate and was at one time the leader of the Serbian "Return" alliance in the Assembly of Kosovo.
Dragiša Milović is a Kosovo Serb politician. He was the mayor of Zvečan, a predominantly Serb community in the disputed territory of Kosovo, from 2002 to 2013, serving as a member of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). In 2021, he was re-elected to the same position as a candidate of the Serb List (SL).
Stojanka Petković is a Kosovo Serb former politician. She served in the Assembly of Kosovo from 2001 to 2004 as part of the Serbian "Return" coalition and in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2007 to 2012 as a member of G17 Plus.
Milan Ivanović is a Kosovo Serb medical doctor, administrator, and politician. He was a prominent figure in northern Kosovo politics for the first decade after the 1998–99 Kosovo War. Ivanović was for many years the leader of the Serbian National Council of Northern Kosovo and Metohija and has been a vocal opponent of engagement with the post-1999 governing authorities in Priština. He is no relation to the late Oliver Ivanović.
United Nations Administered Kosovo refers to the period between 1999 and 2008 when the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo was directly responsible for the governance of Kosovo. This period began on 10 June 1999 with the passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and effectively ended on 17 February 2008 with the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo.
The Kosovo Transitional Council,, was an advisory body that existed in Kosovo between July 1999 and November 2001 during the period that the United Nations was directly responsible for the governance of Kosovo. The council was replaced by the Assembly of Kosovo following elections held in November 2001.
