Marinkovic: A way out of the crisis only if Self-Determination weakens, Kurti has no chance of becoming president

The Director of the NGO Casa, Miodrag Marinkovic, warns that after the December elections Kosovo will once again fall into an institutional crisis, because, as he tells Kosovo Online, there will be no stable majority capable of supporting any candidate for president, and especially not Albin Kurti.

Marinkovic points out that political calculations are already well underway.

"We are already living through these calculations. There is a clear risk that any majority formed in December will dissolve already at the beginning of spring, because there will not be enough MPs to elect a president," he said.

He adds that Kosovo is in a very serious institutional crisis and that there is a way out of the deadlock: for Self-Determination to win fewer than 40 seats, which would open space for the opposition to assume full political legitimacy.

"Under one condition, this crisis can be resolved without further delays and new elections, and that is for Self-Determination to get fewer than 40 MPs in the new assembly, which would marginalize them in the sense that they could not form a government. They would also not have enough votes to block the election of the president," he explained.

Everything above 40 seats for Self-Determination, he adds, means the continuation of the institutional crisis in Kosovo.

Speaking about the speculation that Albin Kurti could leave the position of prime minister in order to run for president, Marinkovic says he does not see real support for such a development.

"I hope not," he said, adding that he still cannot predict political calculations.

"Judging by the statements of the opposition, by their values and policies, I am not sure the opposition is prepared to support such an election," he noted.

He also added that previous presidents of Kosovo did not have the political weight they had as party leaders, and he expects the same this time. He points out that public opinion research shows a decline in support for Self-Determination, while the opposition is gaining.

"I am certain that the opposition will have mathematical, statistical and political influence on the election of the president, and in that case I am not convinced that Kurti has any chance of becoming president, if he even wants that," Marinkovic concluded.