Gogic: Osmani the most popular in the opposition, possibly aiming for the prime minister’s position

Political scientist Ognjen Gogic told Kosovo Online that Vjosa Osmani is conducting a political campaign, potentially with the aim of being elected prime minister. He adds that, as the currently most popular opposition politician, she has several advantages, including a clearly pro-Western orientation, as well as a sense among Albin Kurti’s voters that Self-Determination did not show her loyalty when it did not nominate her for re-election.

Gogic noted that, in theory, it is possible for the Kosovo parliament to reach an agreement on the president and avoid elections, but that it seems new early elections are inevitable.

Osmani, he assesses, is currently the most popular opposition politician in Kosovo, which gives her room for maneuver.

“Vjosa Osmani has significant room for maneuver. She is in a position where, among all opposition leaders, she is the most popular. She has considerable space to choose how she will present herself to voters in the upcoming elections. It is expected that she will take part in the elections, if they are held. She can either return to her former party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, or form her own civic initiative and run in that capacity. She can weigh what is most beneficial for her, she has strong political support among voters and has stated herself that the presidential position is not her highest ambition and not the final office she wants to hold in Kosovo,” Gogic said.

According to him, Osmani will present herself as a generally pro-Western, and especially pro-American candidate, in contrast to Albin Kurti.

“She is expected to position herself as a pro-Western oriented candidate, someone who wants to improve and develop Kosovo’s relations with the EU, but above all with the United States, as there have been tensions there,” he said, pointing to disagreements between Washington and Pristina in recent years.

In that context, Gogic notes that Osmani has positioned herself as someone who had good relations with both the administration of former US President Joe Biden and the current US leader Donald Trump, with whom cooperation resulted in Kosovo’s entry into the Peace Committee.

“She will definitely present herself as someone who will improve Kosovo’s relations with Euro-Atlantic partners, but the capacity in which she will participate in the elections is not clear – whether she will be part of a party or launch a new initiative. What can be expected is that she will not be a candidate of her party Guxo, that is excluded. It is also significant for her that she likely aims to become prime minister this time; she will probably not be satisfied with running in order to later become president again, but can be expected to compete with Kurti for the prime minister’s position,” he assessed.

Speaking about the start of her campaign for potential elections, Gogic noted that Osmani did not speak out until the deadline for electing a president expired in early March, after which she submitted amendments to parliament for the direct election of the president, which would require a constitutional change.

“She accompanied this with the message that the people of Kosovo should elect the president directly, alluding to herself as someone who enjoys strong public support, which would back her if parties would not. By submitting constitutional amendments, she already launched her pre-election campaign, because she wanted to show that she is the one who enjoys public support. After March 5 passed, she immediately dissolved the parliament, which the Constitutional Court did not recognize as a legally effective act, but through that she wanted to show that Kosovo is heading to elections and that she will run in them. When it became clear that Self-Determination would not nominate her for president and that a president would not be elected in parliament, she began a political campaign for parliamentary elections. Whether that means a bid for president or possibly prime minister, we will see,” Gogic said.

Commenting on Osmani’s main strengths in the campaign, Gogic says that, unlike Prime Minister Albin Kurti, she has long been seen as someone with a clearly pro-Western orientation, adding that in Kosovo she is perceived as “America’s person”. Another advantage of Osmani, he notes, is the feeling among Kurti’s voters that Self-Determination betrayed her after not proposing her for re-election, despite her having supported the party multiple times.

“What she will also rely on is a certain sense of resentment. Just as Kurti once built his popularity on the idea that other parties in Kosovo were ‘unfair’ toward him, she can use that same emotion. Many Self-Determination voters did not understand why Kurti did not propose Vjosa Osmani for re-election. That confused even his own voters, because it seemed to all of them that they were a tandem, a duo acting together. It appears as though he did her an injustice by not proposing her for re-election without explanation,” Gogic concluded.