Kosovo in the election campaign: Main focus of party programs or political confrontations?

The messages of the candidates are still echoing in the public space, so it is not easy to assess whether the "most expensive Serbian word" has confirmed this epithet in pre-election addresses, or if it has only been used as a convenient catchphrase to attract votes and a facade for the lack of original offers in the electoral market.

At midnight, the election silence begins - a three-day break for voters to gather impressions after the election campaign and decide whom to trust on Sunday. Has Kosovo, as some analysts claim, been only an instrument for attacking political opponents, or have those who aspire to deal with it in the future become more serious due to the seriousness of the situation?

If we use the definition from the Law on Financing Political Activities, where an election campaign is defined as a set of activities calling on voters to vote for political entities, or "not to vote for other participants in the elections", it is natural to wonder whether voters from Kosovo have heard these calls and, more importantly, how they interpreted them.

Certainly, not all political options have managed to convince people to vote for them, but some may have unexpectedly succeeded: yes, completely contrary to the provision of the aforementioned law, convince voters to vote for someone else.

Pejovic: Many actors in the campaign found it convenient for the Kosovo issue not to be in focus

Journalist Dragana Pejovic believes that there was no substantive Kosovo issue in the campaign, except for the parties' attitudes toward the Franco-German plan, which is the cornerstone and most important topic for some, while "the government only responds to these challenges and criticisms". At the very beginning of the campaign, the concrete topic was the impossibility for the Serbs in Kosovo to participate in the elections this time as well, but that lasted very briefly, Pejovic assessed for Kosovo Online.

"For all actors in the campaign, at least for the majority of the opposition and the government, it was in their interest that the Kosovo issue not be in focus at all," says Pejovic, adding that several coalitions on the right side of the spectrum brought that topic back into focus, but mostly in terms of their attitude toward the Franco-German plan.

According to her, one part of the opposition could not decide on a consistent stance on the Kosovo issue until the end of the campaign, "so one day they say they would reject that plan, the next day they would go to the Constitutional Court and before the assembly".

She assesses that there were no messages in the campaign directed at citizens living in Kosovo, nor plans on how to improve their status.

"I think that even the election results, even the results of those parties in the elections, will not reflect the citizens' attitude toward this issue, not only regarding Kosovo and Metohija but also regarding the Franco-German plan because I believe, and all research shows it, that citizens are very interested in that issue and very negative about that plan, and I think that the parties that focused on that issue will not be able to gather a sufficient number of votes. This only means that either they did not articulate that issue in the right way, or the government managed to cover it with some of its own topics or some answers it had to it", Pejovic states.

She emphasizes that there is almost no party that can afford not to deal with the Kosovo issue.

"That's exactly what I mean when I say that there is great citizen interest, and parties know that. Rarely will anyone even openly state their position on it, but we have a situation in these elections where even some minority parties express their views on this issue, and almost no one can ignore that", our interlocutor says.

According to her, few have had the opportunity not to respond to this question at all, but she adds that these are not parties, but individual actors "whose stance the public would be better off not hearing" because it is not a popular stance.

When asked if the Kosovo issue was the one deciding the winner in the elections, Pejovic emphasizes that we have a situation where voters from Kosovo and Metohija probably will not be able to swing to either side, but their votes are symbolically important.

"However, they will not be counted in one place, that is, we will not know how the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija voted, or whether they have the same attitude towards the ruling parties as they did. In most cases, the Serbian Progressive Party won with 80-something percent, and that was with a high turnout, so it is actually symbolically important. Elections could be lost on this issue if someone came out and openly stated a position that the vast majority of citizens do not want to hear, so we have actors who avoid this issue in the election campaign or create some exit options, saying 'We would not accept that, but we would put it before the assembly and the Constitutional Court', but that doesn't mean 'we would reject it'", Pejovic explains.

She recalls that parties in the campaign partially addressed the issue of people leaving Kosovo and that this was a topic on which they wanted to show that the government's policies had not been good in recent years.

"However, when the government itself admits that there has been emigration, it has the argument that it is not responsible for it, but the policy of Albin Kurti. It is clear to everyone that the biggest barrier to Serbian interests in Kosovo is precisely the population that should stay there, and in that segment, there is a lot of room if you want to make a plan for the future, how to help the Serbs stay in Kosovo - that could be a constructive approach in the election campaign", Pejovic concludes.

Rodic: No new messages about Kosovo in the election campaign

Journalist Filip Rodic assessed for Kosovo Online that unfortunately, the resolution of the Kosovo issue had not been a key topic in the pre-election campaign in Serbia and that we had not heard any new messages, but he emphasized that, despite this, political messages about Kosovo were not clichés.

Rodic believes that, quite expectedly, the ruling party emphasized the Kosovo issue the most, given that, as he says, they deal with and fight with this issue every day.

"The government addressed the Kosovo issue in line with its usual behavior. The issue of Kosovo is very high on the agenda of our government, and within that, they moved now, rejecting any possibility of recognizing the secession of our southern province and warning that the EU will require us to include the Ohrid Agreement in Chapter 35 of the accession negotiations", Rodic said.

During the campaign, the patriotic bloc, he emphasizes, criticized the government and accused it of fully accepting the Franco-German plan, which, he adds, official Belgrade rejects by claiming that only a part of the plan has been accepted, and it is clearly stated what was rejected.

"So, from the perspective of the patriotic opposition, the criticism was that our government accepts the Franco-German plan, that this represents a renunciation of our southern province and sovereignty over that part of the territory, and that it is completely unacceptable for them", Rodic pointed out.

Speaking about the pro-European opposition, Rodic assesses that the Kosovo issue is a very delicate matter for them, just as they avoid expressing their stance on whether they are for or against imposing sanctions on Russia.

"Those issues (Kosovo and sanctions against Russia) are very painful for them because they are fundamentally committed differently from the majority of the population of Serbia, and they cannot talk much about it. They criticized the government for the alleged acceptance of the Franco-German plan, but not in the way the patriotic opposition did. They do not have a fundamental problem with it, just a formal one, because it was not discussed in the Assembly, or similar. This leaves a completely open space for free action after the elections", Rodic said.

When asked about the messages on the Kosovo issue that could be heard during the campaign, he notes that nothing new was heard, but it is always relevant that pressures from the West are intensifying.

"We haven't heard anything new, but I wouldn't say that political messages about Kosovo are clichés. We don't have much novelty to hear. What's new is that pressures from the West are intensifying to recognize secession, to accept that Franco-German plan and to push it through the UN and the EU", Rodic said.

However, as he notes, the novelty was the visit of representatives of the pro-Western opposition to Kosovo, where they were received, as he assesses, "completely expected".

"We also have the 'forest exit' of Milica Đurdjevic Stamenkovski - which is a marketing thing, but it took a bit of courage to sneak down illegally. Various things can be expected from the Pristina authorities, and that was not without risk", emphasizes our interlocutor.

Rodic believes that the Serbs in Kosovo, given the living conditions and everyday problems, did not expect much from the campaign.

"I think these people down there have largely become accustomed to everything happening to them. They somehow stoically accept the constant mild worsening of the situation in which they live, and I don't think they themselves expected anything to be done for them in the election campaign. They are very aware that a much larger geopolitical upheaval is needed to improve their lives", Rodic concluded.

He notes that the issue of Kosovo, except for the government, was not on the list of priorities. Even, he adds, a part of the patriotic opposition gave up making that issue topical in its politics.

"Unfortunately, Kosovo was not the main theme of this campaign. For the government, it was a topic at a very high level because the government faces and fights with this issue every day. For a part of the patriotic opposition, it is, while the other part has practically rejected this issue and joined this pro-European part of the opposition, leading a campaign that boils down to nullifying Aleksandar Vucic, to his overthrow, and he was their main theme. The main goal that the opposition needs to achieve is to overthrow the President of Serbia, not to introduce certain policies", Rodic said.

Smajlovic: These elections are not about the Kosovo issue

Kosovo is not the real theme of this pre-election campaign; the main theme is President Aleksandar Vucic – whether someone is for or against him, the journalist Ljiljana Smajlovic emphasizes for Kosovo Online.

According to her, even though everyone ritually swears allegiance to Kosovo, these elections are not actually resolved on that issue.

"So, you have votes for Vucic and votes against Vucic. I saw some say that people are interested in unemployment; I haven't seen anyone talking about unemployment because employment has increased here. If you talk about unemployment, you are actually talking about an increase in employment, which means you are working in favor of the government. From what I could see, it was only talked about Vucic, who and why hates Vucic, and from which perspective one would vote against him. These elections are really a referendum on Vucic, and I think he is not as much to blame for it as the opposition. So, I doubt that the Serbs in Kosovo think that Kosovo is really the campaign's theme. They must have seen the same thing we saw", Smajlovic emphasizes.

She adds that despite the weak interest in the citizens' lives, the stance on Kosovo can change something in the elections for some right-oriented parties.

"The war in Ukraine helped right-wing parties when they said, 'We would be even more for Russia'. Now, Kosovo is in place instead of Ukraine and Russia, and now the Franco-German plan is some emblem of recognition for someone who thinks it could be beneficial to them", Smajlovic concludes.