Alija: Parties use all strategies in election campaigns, including appeals to wartime merits

Amer Alija, a lawyer with the Humanitarian Law Center, said that during pre-election campaigns political parties use every possible strategy to reach voters, including referring to leaders of the former KLA who are on trial in The Hague.

According to him, politicians who took part in the conflict during the 1990s still use that fact today in their pre-election campaigns.

“When a campaign begins, political parties use every possible strategy. Those who were active in the war and who contributed to Kosovo’s independence use the credit they had at that time. We certainly hear such statements in every campaign: I had more merits, you did not have more merits, I was in the war, you were not, and so on,” Alija told Kosovo Online.

As he emphasized, citizens in Kosovo have become accustomed to such statements.

“I think that Kosovo’s citizens have become used to such statements. Over time, we have seen that almost all parties have been in power and that power in Kosovo can easily change, because it depends on a coalition of at least two of the larger parties in Kosovo,” Alija added.

He pointed out that messages about the KLA and its leaders during the campaign may have a certain impact on some voters, but that most of them already know whom they will vote for.

“Bearing in mind that we have had all possible parties in power – from Self-Determination to the PDK, LDK, and AAK – this may have a certain impact on some voters, but every voter will certainly cast their vote for the one they believe can bring some positive changes to the Republic of Kosovo,” the lawyer from the Humanitarian Law Center said.