Gogic: The key to the campaign will be assigning blame for the failure to elect a president

Political scientist Ognjen Gogic told Kosovo Online that the main topic in the upcoming elections will be responsibility for the failure to elect a president, as well as offering guarantees to voters that instability will end and stable institutions will be formed. In addition, Gogic states that topics will also include Serbian institutions, relations with Western partners, and verdicts for war crimes against former KLA leaders.

“This is already the third time in a year and a half that Kosovo is going to parliamentary elections, and all topics and promises have been exhausted. No one can say anything new that hasn’t already been said, nor is there anyone who wants to listen to it. Citizens are more interested in the answer to the question of why Kosovo cannot constitute institutions after all these election cycles,” Gogic said.

According to him, the issue of responsibility and blame arises for the reasons why Kosovo so frequently goes to elections without an outcome, as well as how to avoid repeating such a situation.

“The main promise of the parties will be to constitute institutions, elect a government and a president, and ensure there will be no need to go to elections again in a few months. That is the main issue. Everything else is redundant, because no one believes in or expects any new promises when they are not sure there will even be a party capable of implementing them, if institutions are not constituted again,” he said.

Gogic assesses that there is a possibility that the political situation will not change even after the elections, which could lead Kosovo to hold parliamentary elections twice a year. According to him, parties will have to promise stability to voters, which he claims is uncertain.

In addition, he states that one of the key campaign topics will also be the relationship of Albin Kurti with Western partners.

“It is likely that the issue of Kosovo’s relationship with Western partners will be opened, primarily with the United States. Vjosa Osmani, if she participates in the elections as an opposition candidate, could criticize Kurti’s anti-Americanism. They may compete over who will prove to be more oriented toward Europe and the United States,” he said.

Gogic said this is an open issue, as Kurti’s pro-Western orientation is not entirely clear, as indicated by disagreements with Western capitals. At the same time, Gogic expects that war crimes will also be a campaign topic.

“War crimes are expected to be a topical issue, because around the time when the elections could be held, first-instance verdicts are expected in the case of Hashim Thaçi and others. That could bring a completely new dynamic to the election campaign, right before the finish. Whatever the verdict, it will raise tensions in Kosovo,” Gogic assessed.

Gogic points out that this is already visible through other developments, including the adoption of the resolution “on truth and dignity of war victims,” as well as war crimes proceedings being conducted against Serbs.

Serbian health and educational institutions could also become a campaign issue, Gogic says, adding that the opposition could use the reached agreement against Kurti.

“That is a position that Albin Kurti himself took, that he would not tolerate, as he said, parallel illegal institutions of Serbia in Kosovo, but then, in agreement with Sorensen, he effectively accepted that they continue their work without official integration and legalization into the Kosovo system, at least not yet,” Gogic said.

He points out that the opposition could exploit Kurti’s inconsistency, since, in Gogic’s assessment, he has in some way legalized the work of structures he previously called illegal.

“It is possible they will call him out on that, and this was already seen in the situation in Srbica, when, on the directive of the mayor of Srbica, Lushtaku, an initiative was launched to close clinics and bring them into the Kosovo system. There, Lushtaku entered Kurti’s territory by showing that Kurti is not the only one who can shut down Serbian institutions,” he said.

Gogic added that in this way the opposition can provoke Kurti, while he in turn may try to prove he stands by his word by aiming to restrict the work of Serbian institutions.

Likewise, Gogic states that the opposition will try to compete with Kurti on the issue of nationalism.

“This is largely conditioned by the situation in The Hague, that process against Thaci and others and the expected verdict. This has already raised tensions among all of them, and everyone is trying to gain political points on that issue, whether it is parties that emerged from the KLA, such as PDK and AAK, or parties that were in conflict with PDK and the successors of the KLA, but still want to show they are sufficiently loyal. Here I am referring to LDK and Self-Determination,” he states.

Albanian political parties, Gogic says, compete in nationalism and patriotism, with the issue of Serbia and Serbs at the center.

“That nationalism is sharpened against someone, and here that is the Serbian side. This could make Serbs in Kosovo feel uncomfortable during the campaign period, because they are, in a way, a topic of the pre-election campaign and a measure of strength between Albanian parties,” Gogic concluded.