Drecun: It will be difficult for Kurti to achieve the same or a better result than in the previous elections

Chairman of the Serbian Parliament’s Committee on Security, Milovan Drecun, assessed today that it is unlikely that the leader of Self-Determination, Albin Kurti, will achieve the same or a better result in the snap parliamentary elections in Kosovo than in the previous ones.

Speaking to Tanjug, Drecun said that the calling of new elections resulted from the unwillingness of Kurti’s Self-Determination and the opposition to reach a compromise.

“Kurti could have made a compromise, accepted Vjosa Osmani or someone else, and a president of the so-called Kosovo could have been elected. On the other hand, the opposition did not want to allow him unlimited political power—to control both the parliament and the so-called government and to hold the position of president—but instead wanted to balance everything,” Drecun said, as reported by Radio Television of Vojvodina.

He believes it is a valid observation that Kurti did not want Vjosa Osmani as president because she would marginalize him in Washington.

“It is also a correct observation that Kurti likely resisted because Osmani had positioned herself with the United States and the administration of Donald Trump as a reliable partner, and he felt she somehow marginalized him on the international stage when it comes to the Americans,” Drecun said.

However, he added that Kurti’s behavior is understandable, as he was the clear winner in the last elections and sought to consolidate full power.

“You have to make compromises to secure a two-thirds majority. That is a legal mechanism to limit someone’s absolute power—to prevent it. But Kurti was not ready to compromise and evidently assessed that it was better for him to go to elections than to accept sharing power,” he said.

Drecun also pointed out that Kurti received a large number of votes from Albanians living and working abroad, who had been in Kosovo during the previous elections held over the holiday period, adding that it remains to be seen how many of them will participate in June, either by mail or in person.

“It seems that Kurti is now reaping what he sowed through his work with the diaspora. He was very active. That segment of the Albanian electorate pays much less attention to the everyday problems faced by people in Kosovo and Metohija—such as lack of jobs, low living standards, corruption, and crime. Much more important to them is Kurti’s Greater-Albanian, anti-Serb rhetoric,” Drecun said.

According to him, Kurti directs this “attention” toward Serbs in a way that fosters hostility and pressure, as the diaspora is particularly sensitive to such themes in a positive sense.

Commenting on life and 30-year prison sentences handed down to three Serbs in connection with the Banjska case, Drecun stressed that the Office for Kosovo and Metohija was correct in assessing that this represents retaliation and revenge against Serbs who dared to resist pressure against them and their families.

“These are incredible sentences. Look at how many terrorist organizations exist worldwide, how many members of the Islamic State have entered under the guise of migrants and what they do… Where are such draconian sentences there? Here, the goal is to intimidate Serbs to the maximum. Any resistance to the pressure being exerted against them will result in draconian punishment,” he said.