Summary of the Week 84

Warming up for a new campaign while we haven’t even cooled off from the previous elections. Political parties say they are not tired, while citizens say they need new motivation. Many messages again this week, yet still no common language.

There have been many campaigns this year. Many coalitions, failed agreements, unfulfilled promises, and far too many elections.

Even the bravest are reluctant to predict whether there is time—or inspiration—for new surprises.

“I couldn’t say that anything is unrealistic,” Milos Pavkovic from the European Policy Centre told Kosovo Online.

What seems least realistic, analysts say, is finding a solution.

Who adds up with whom, and who takes away votes from whom? Whose differences are irreconcilable, and who is closest to solving the political equation?

“I really cannot predict their calculations,” says Miodrag Marinkovic from the NGO CASA.

Strategy depends on calculations. Since promises and persuasion didn’t work, a new approach has appeared: exhausting voters to win their support. The citizens of Pristina felt this best this week—waiting for public transport that never came.

“I think political parties should seriously consider whether they will again nominate the same people on their parliamentary lists,” says Professor Mazlum Baraliu.

“Because these people have lost the trust of the citizens,” Baraliu adds.

Trust wasn’t high even in the offerings during previous elections. What was offered, however, was a better and easier life—especially for citizens in the north.

“We saw that there were neither new jobs nor any meaningful justice. But we did see a lot of pressure on the Serbian community,” recalls Dragisa Mijacic of the National Convention on the EU for Chapter 35.

Numerous campaigns and elections may affect motivation. Pressures, however, analysts believe, are much more resilient.

“There will certainly be conflicts between the technical government and the newly elected mayors,” says Milica Rakic Andric from the New Social Initiative, adding that this is “completely inevitable.”

It is also inevitable that every new week brings new reasons for conflict—and reminders of old ones. And that many more waters will flow down the Ibar before any of this changes.