Novakovic: Elections possible next summer for Kurti to consolidate power before potential changes in the EU and the US

Igor Novakovic from the Center for International and Security Affairs suggests that early parliamentary elections in Kosovo are almost certain next summer, however, he does not believe that the immediate motive for holding them will be Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti's intention to delay the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities. According to Novakovic, Kurti might trigger these elections to strengthen his power before elections in the European Union and the United States take place and before there is a potential change in political elites there.

"The postponement of the formation of the CSM is certainly happening. We even saw Kurti's reaction to what Lajcak said about the statute of the CSM – that it is an internal matter for Pristina and that Serbia does not have to sign it. Kurti immediately responded by indicating that he would offer a new version of the statute, which obviously is not the one that came from Europe. On the other hand, it seems that there are plenty of steps with which the formation of the CSM will be delayed, i.e., the acceptance of its statute, so the elections themselves are not a definitive lever in favor of delaying such a process," Novakovic says for Kosovo Online.

He adds that these elections seem most likely to occur in the summer when Kosovo returns migrants, who, he says, are essentially Kurti's voter base.

Regarding the existence of any new force in Kosovo's political scene that could significantly position itself in the elections, considering that all opposition parties, PDK, LDK, as well as AAK, have been in power, Novakovic says that it seems there are no new options.

"There is still the Social Democratic Party, which is a former part of Self-Determination. However, they showed in the previous elections that they could not surpass the threshold, and they are quite radical. However, considering that Kurti's party is, in a sense, a 'catch-all' party, very similar to some of our parties, which implies that it gathers both extremely pro-European elements and quite stubborn conservatives, some of whom even lean towards more extreme interpretations of Islam, if there is a weakening of Self-Determination itself, there could potentially be some cracks and new forces might emerge. However, this is now in the realm of deep speculation because it is very obvious that, at least at this moment, Albin Kurti's personality brings together all these, so to speak, factions without much trouble," Novakovic concludes.