Milenkovic: We should not expect Osmani to be the Self-Determination’s candidate for president again

Marko Milenkovic from the NGO New Social Initiative assesses that, although Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has recently seemed, through some of her statements and policies, to be trying to get closer to the Self-Determination Movement and is therefore calculating, one should not expect her to be Self-Determination’s candidate for president of Kosovo again.

Since the president of Kosovo is elected in parliament, Milenkovic says it is uncertain what will happen with the Kosovo Assembly, whether there will be new parliamentary elections or whether some political consensus will be reached.

“At this moment we have a political process that is still not completed, I mean the constitution of the Assembly, a body that needs to be functional so that Kosovo can get a new president. The next steps in that direction are important. For now, it seems that reaching political consensus will be difficult,” Milenkovic noted.

Regarding the choice of a candidate for president of Kosovo, he believes it is very likely that political parties will calculate and that the candidate will not be one of genuine political consensus, but rather that the parties will divide roles among themselves.

“I see that as the only way we could reach a position where a president is chosen, if the current trend continues in terms of the number of votes and the popularity of political actors. What we know for now is that, for example, if Self-Determination nominates the president while Albin Kurti remains prime minister, then that function will again not be very significant, just as it was during Vjosa Osmani’s mandate. All focus was on Kurti, he was the one making key decisions, while Osmani largely had a ceremonial role and did not have significant influence either politically or in other institutional matters,” Milenkovic concluded.

When asked by journalists about the possibility of running for a second presidential term, Osmani recently replied that she has not yet made a decision.