Spahiu: A compromise on the election of the president is more favorable for Kurti than new elections

Self-Determination Movement leader Albin Kurti must not risk the opposition rejecting the presidential candidate he proposes, as that could lead to new elections, analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu told Kosovo Online.

“He puts one into circulation, then another, then a third. This time he is listening to reactions to Vjosa Osmani, whether she would have enough votes or not. But he also has other candidates whom he will put into circulation after a certain period, in order to check the reactions to them. I believe he must not risk having his proposed candidate rejected, because in that case he would have to go to elections. And now elections no longer fall at a time when the diaspora is here, so he cannot get as many votes as he did on December 28, when the diaspora was present,” the analyst says.

He notes that Kurti has several candidates he could propose, but that there is a small likelihood the opposition would support any of them.

“It is hard to believe that there is a person in Kosovo who would be elected jointly by both the government and the opposition. Only if, for example, the Americans and the British insisted on a particular person and exerted pressure on both sides. For now, however, there are no indications that such pressure will occur in order to elect a president. That is why it is still uncertain who the new president of Kosovo will be,” Spahiu says.

Because of all this, he assesses that a compromise on the presidency is far more favorable for Kurti than new elections.

“He must not risk the mandate he won with more than 51 percent of the vote, which allows him to govern for the next four years without coalition partners. So, in the end, he will bluff. The opposition will bluff as well, but someone will have to give in,” our interlocutor says.

Commenting on speculation that Vjosa Osmani could be offered the position of foreign minister, he says that such a scenario suits neither her nor Kurti.

“That is nonsense. These are not analysts, but promoters of opposition parties who want to muddy the waters as much as possible. There is no way for Vjosa Osmani to move from the position of president to that of foreign minister. First of all, she would not agree to that. Second, if Kurti does not want her as president, he will not want her as foreign minister either. So that is a scenario that will not happen,” he says.

He adds that Osmani has threatened Kurti that, if he does not elect her as president, she will form a party and become his fierce political opponent.

“How much Kurti fears that is another question. But I think she will either be elected or she will not. If she is not elected, she will form a party and wage a political battle for the next term,” Spahiu concludes.