Smajlovic: These elections are not decided on the Kosovo issue

Journalist Ljiljana Smajlovic assessed for Kosovo Online that Kosovo was not the real theme of this pre-election campaign, rather, the main focus was President Aleksandar Vucic and whether someone was for or against him.

According to her, even though everyone ritually swears allegiance to Kosovo, these elections are not actually decided on that question.

"So, you have votes for Vucic and votes against Vucic. I've seen some say that people are interested in unemployment, but I haven't seen anyone talking about unemployment because employment has increased here. If you talk about unemployment, you're actually talking about increased employment, which means you're working in favor of the government. From what I could see, it was only about Vucic, who and why hates Vucic, and from which perspective one would vote against him. These elections are truly a referendum on Vucic, and I don't think he is as much to blame for it as the opposition is. So, I doubt that Serbs in Kosovo think that Kosovo is genuinely the campaign's theme. They had to see the same thing we saw," Smajlovic emphasizes.

She adds that, despite the weak interest in the citizens' lives, the stance on Kosovo can change something in the elections for certain right-oriented parties.

"The war in Ukraine helped right-wing parties when they said, 'We would be even more for Russia.' Now, Kosovo is in place of Ukraine and Russia, and the Franco-German plan is now a symbol of recognition for someone who thinks it could benefit them," Smajlovic concludes.