Milivojevic: Diaspora will be called upon to support the Albanian factor in Serb communities in the elections

Former diplomat Zoran Milivojevic expects that, ahead of the upcoming local elections in Kosovo, Albanian parties will call on the diaspora to support strengthening the Albanian factor in areas where Serbs are the majority. He points out that the role of the diaspora in elections is generally growing everywhere, especially when it is large, as is the case with the Albanian diaspora.

According to him, the diaspora will be urged to support the Albanian national program regarding Kosovo and its independence, as a way to reinforce Albanian dominance in the north and to preserve the situation established over the past three years, during which Albanians have held sway through representatives elected in polls with only a 3 percent turnout.

“This is a call to the diaspora, not only from Self-Determination, but also from other opposition parties in Kosovo and Metohija, for the Albanian factor to be more strongly expressed in areas where Serbs dominate or hold a majority, to shift the demographic element in favor of Albanians, and to prevent Serbs from convincingly dominating local governments,” Milivojevic told Kosovo Online.

He emphasized another important element this time: the interest of certain Western actors.

“To the extent that they want to shift things in favor of the Albanian factor, for example, in municipalities in northern Kosovo, some Western centers of power may encourage the diaspora in their countries to turn out and vote to support this. Unfortunately, we have bad experiences from the last elections, when even a 3 percent turnout was accepted as valid, enabling three years of rule through instruments that changed the facts on the ground, altered demographics, and worsened living conditions for the Serbian population in majority-Serb areas,” he explained.

Milivojevic believes it is almost certain that in some countries the Albanian diaspora will be encouraged to vote in local elections, particularly where it is numerous, such as in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, and the United States.

“This goes hand in hand with the attempt to discredit the Serb List, and that has the support of foreign actors. Verbal comments mean nothing without action. We can see that these measures go through, just as all the measures Self-Determination has applied, such as voter rolls and registering new voters. The diaspora could significantly strengthen this, and I believe some Western power centers will play a role,” Milivojevic assessed.

Recently, he noted, the diaspora has begun to take on a serious electoral dimension in some cases, citing examples from Moldova, Romania, and Georgia, where the diaspora was practically a decisive factor, even securing victory for ruling parties in Moldova and Romania. The same, he added, applies to the Western Balkans, and it will apply to Kosovo as well.