Radojkovic: It would suit the Serbian community if a new President of Kosovo were not elected

Historian Stefan Radojkovic told Kosovo Online that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti does not want a presidential candidate who could threaten his authority, assessing that in the event a new president is not elected and new parliamentary elections are called, the Serbian community would benefit the most.

“Kurti does not want a political figure, or an institution, that would call into question his almost unlimited power within the Pristina administration,” Radojkovic said.

Speaking about Vjosa Osmani, he stated that she has not completely dropped out of the presidential race, but that Kurti will have the final say.

“Everything must be viewed through his desire to be the undisputed authority within the Pristina administration and also within the framework of his theory of the ‘third republic’. Namely, he and his Self-Determination Movement want the Pristina administration to be absolutely independent, especially from Western European partners and allies. In that sense, he will not want to provide any opportunity for those states to have any leverage by which they could diminish his power or limit him in any way,” he assessed.

He pointed out that members of the Jashari family and Glauk Konjufca are also mentioned as possible presidential candidates, emphasizing in particular that it would make sense for Konjufca to become the new president, because in that way Self-Determination would have control over the Assembly, the Government and the institution of the president.

Referring to the possibility that a president is not elected and Kosovo goes to new elections, Radojkovic noted that the final decision lies with Albin Kurti.

“Everything depends on Albin Kurti’s decision. He is now in the driver’s seat, he decides on everything and if he is ambitious enough, he may even lead to a situation where a president is not elected now, but instead try to win even more votes, that is, secure more mandates, so that Self-Determination alone would have a sufficient quorum and number of votes to elect the president he wants,” he said.

Radojkovic stressed that Kurti does not want a presidential figure who would in any way try to limit him institutionally or constitutionally.

“He does not want an opponent in the judicial branch of government, nor does he want an opponent who would be overly committed to defending the Pristina administration and its constitutional framework,” Radojkovic stated.

Commenting on the option of the opposition attempting to prevent Kurti from consolidating power in Kosovo by pushing for new parliamentary elections, Radojkovic pointed out that the opposition is still recovering from its electoral defeat, and that it is not yet known whether the PDK and AAK are ready to risk new parliamentary elections in hopes of a better result.

“Whether the opposition will dare to do something like that, considering the disarray, for example in the LDK, and Abdixhiku’s recommendation that his MPs vote as they see fit – meaning there is no directive from the top of that party – suggests that part of the opposition is demoralized by the latest results, which would indicate that they do not want new elections, but rather time to recover from defeat. On the other hand, we will see whether the PDK and Ramush Haradinaj will be ready to obstruct and test themselves again in new snap elections, thinking they might achieve a more favorable result if the Albanian diaspora is not present in Kosovo and Metohija,” he said.

Radojkovic said that the failure to elect a new president would suit the Serbian community the most, as it would be most favorable for Kosovo to go to snap parliamentary elections, in which Self-Determination could potentially achieve a worse result.

“The power of Self-Determination might be reduced, considering that Albin Kurti won this number of mandates primarily thanks to votes from the diaspora. If snap elections were held, they would suit part of the opposition, which I am not sure wants to repeat that scenario, but they may invest everything in that direction. In any case, it would suit the Serbian community for Albin Kurti’s power to be limited as much as possible,” he stated.

The timing of potential snap elections, he emphasized, could lead to a different outcome because the diaspora is not currently present in Kosovo to the same extent, but the overall trend of voting for Self-Determination would not change.

“The overall trend of votes for him cannot change completely, but it could lead to elections being scheduled at a time when the Albanian diaspora is not present in Kosovo and Metohija in such large numbers and therefore cannot influence the outcome to the same extent,” Radojkovic concluded.