Mitic: Albanian parties’ campaign will be marked by “triple rhetoric,” focus on the Serb community

Research fellow at the Institute of International Politics and Economics, Aleksandar Mitic, told Kosovo Online that the campaign for local elections in Kosovo will be characterized by a “focus on the Serb community,” as well as by the “triple rhetoric” of Albanian parties, where communal issues will be raised only in areas where they form an absolute majority.

“I expect, in practice, a triple rhetoric: one directed at purely Albanian areas, focusing on communal issues; one aggressive, where the Serb community exists and where there’s a chance to gain some influence in political and social life; and, of course, one artificial narrative aimed at the Serbian people,” Mitic said.

The election campaign for the October 12 local elections begins in Kosovo today.

Mitic is convinced that “local issues” will not dominate the agenda of Albanian political parties.

“Where Albanians believe the national question has been resolved, and where they are satisfied with the way the Serb community has been eliminated from political and social life, the focus will largely be on issues typical of local elections, as everywhere else in the world. But, as we know, the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is completely abnormal for the Serb community, and therefore, wherever the Serb people live, wherever there is a possibility for them to take on a more significant role in socio-political life, I expect Albanian rhetoric to focus much more on national issues,” Mitic argued.

He added that the “second layer” of this campaign will be “conciliatory tones” directed at the Serb community in an attempt to “attract them with artificial multiethnic rhetoric.”

“Of course, this largely fails with the Serb people, but it is certainly aimed primarily at ensuring that Western institutions, embassies, and media record it as some sort of ‘official’ rhetoric,” Mitic specified.