Kamberi: It is not clear whether Kurti wants early elections or if it's just being discussed

Belgzim Kamberi, the director of the "Musine Kokalari" Institute, told Kosovo Online that it is hard to discern whether Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti genuinely wants early elections or rather prefers to keep the discussion of elections alive to divert attention from pressing issues. He points out that if the intention is to hold elections by July, then an agreement must be reached within the next ten days.

"It's hard to say whether Kurti wants the elections or just wants to keep the topic of elections in the spotlight to avoid discussing not only the problems we've seen with the Council of Europe and the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue but also issues like some laws not being able to pass in the parliament. This will become clear in the next few days because if we are heading to elections by July, then there isn't much constitutional room left, except to have some sort of agreement within about ten days," says Kamberi.

Kamberi notes that snap elections can only be organized if the government, specifically Prime Minister Albin Kurti as the president of the largest party, Self-Determination, which has the largest parliamentary group, engages in the process and sees it as closer to the model of reaching elections through a political agreement between the majority and some of the opposition parties.

"From what we've seen so far, the most likely scenario is for some agreement to be reached between Self-Determination and the Democratic Party of Kosovo, led by Memli Krasniqi, and perhaps a non-majority non-Serbian parliamentary group, leading to elections by dissolving the Assembly," he says.

Regarding the elections in the north for new mayors, our interlocutor says that international actors will continue to pressure for these elections, but that it is very difficult after the unsuccessful referendums.

Kamberi concludes, "Considering the calendar and the fact that we are entering a vacuum because we are nearing elections in the EU and the USA, and certainly snap elections in Kosovo, it will be very difficult to organize new elections in the north. We will have vacuum situations until a new establishment is set up in the EU, the USA, and Kosovo, and this is not good for the security situation, especially in the north."