Maliqi: Pristina is a reflection of the national pulse

Political scientist Agon Maliqi stated, a day after the second round of local elections, that no political party has a “full national reach,” and that the “east/west” division is deepening between Self-Determination and the opposition.

Maliqi wrote on Facebook that the largest city, Pristina – a reflection of the national pulse – mirrors the balance between the opposition and Self-Determination in the Kosovo Assembly, as the ratio of 52:48 is exactly the same.

“Pristina remains a historically opposition-oriented city, where that small percentage difference is determined more by resistance to the arrogance of the central level than by satisfaction with the local one. Pristina, as a ‘melting pot,’ is also a reflection of the national pulse – 52:48 is precisely the balance in the Kosovo Assembly between the opposition and Self-Determination,” Maliqi wrote.

He pointed out that Self-Determination won in places where it managed to control large public enterprises and employment, such as Obilic and Kosovo Polje, that is, where Kurti invested all his political capital and personal narrative, such as in South Mitrovica and in municipalities he had previously favored through funding.

“But Kurti’s figure does not translate into local success unless this element of ‘patronage’ is added. Despite the increase in the number of municipalities where they won – seven municipalities where they will hold power remain far fewer than the 22 won by the opposition,” Maliqi added.

He also assessed that no party has full national reach, and that the “east/west” divide is practically deepening between Self-Determination and the opposition.

Self-Determination, he said, has consolidated itself with 55–60 percent support as “the dominant party of the border zone with Serbia” – in the municipalities of South Mitrovica, Kamenica, Gjilane, and Podujevo, that is, in the municipalities that have been “economic losers” over the past 25 years. According to him, deindustrialization and the “hard border” with Serbia have turned them into economic dead ends, disrupting their centuries-old trade routes and making them even more vulnerable to nationalist populism and rhetoric “for the past 20 years.”

On the other hand, he noted that the opposition remains dominant, winning 55–60 percent of the vote in municipalities bordering Albania and Montenegro – Pec, Prizren, Djakovica – and with North Macedonia, such as Urosevac.

“These cities are, conditionally speaking, the ‘economic winners’ of the past 25 years, with open borders and trade routes. The opposition also dominates in smaller and poorer municipalities that were war hotspots, where the comparison between the pre-war and post-war periods is like night and day,” Maliqi added.