Pavkovic: There are better chances for early elections than for the formation of a new government

Milos Pavkovic, Director of Strategy at the European Policy Center in Belgrade, told Kosovo Online that political actors in Kosovo, following Sunday’s vote, are closer to new early elections than to forming a coalition for a new government, since that option would better suit opposition parties riding the wave of success they achieved in the local elections.

Pavkovic emphasized that the results of the local elections will certainly affect the process of forming a government for two reasons.

“In this situation, the PDK declared itself the unofficial winner of the local elections because it won the largest number of municipalities in the first round, and will also compete again in the second round in the greatest number of municipalities. They are, in a way, the winners of the elections, as we can also see from Self-Determination’s press conference, where they admitted to having ‘taken’ only three municipalities in the first round. I believe the narrative of election victory has clearly been taken over by the PDK, although I think the results of the second round will actually be much more important, particularly in the capital, Pristina. That result carries weight. In Pristina, both the LDK and Self-Determination are sending their candidates into the runoff, so that will also be crucial for government formation,” Pavkovic said.

However, he noted that the deadline for forming a government is October 26, which is before November 9, the date of the second round of local elections.

“It seems to me that it will be much harder for Self-Determination to form a government since it failed to achieve a positive result in the elections. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like the strongest opposition parties, the PDK, LDK, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, have enough coalition potential among themselves to form some kind of ‘anti-Kurti’ bloc. So, in this situation, as things currently stand, I think we are closer to new early elections than to anyone managing to form a government,” Pavkovic assessed.

Asked which parties gained and which lost coalition potential in the elections, Pavkovic said that Self-Determination had definitely reduced its coalition potential, if it ever had any at all.

“From February to October, for eight months, they have failed to find a coalition partner and have not had much coalition potential. In previous years, they governed without a partner, holding an absolute majority. Now, after these local elections, it seems to me that the Democratic Party of Kosovo’s coalition potential is growing, and they could therefore be in a position to form a government with the LDK and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, or even potentially with Self-Determination. Why not? It is a theoretical scenario, though perhaps a less likely one. Still, I believe the opposition parties stand to gain the most from new elections, as they expect to achieve an even better result riding the momentum of their local success,” Pavkovic concluded.