Vujinovic: By giving the mandate to Konjufca, Osmani is helping Kurti time the elections during the holidays

Security studies researcher Nikola Vujinovic told Kosovo Online that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, by giving the mandate to form a new government to Glauk Konjufca, has effectively bought Albin Kurti more time so that early elections can be scheduled during the Christmas and New Year holidays, when the Albanian diaspora is in Kosovo.

“This is indeed a constitutional obligation, but at the same time, it’s a way to buy time. In other words, Ms. Osmani used her constitutional duty as a pretext to give Albin Kurti and his Self-Determination Movement more time, since they have been the closest allies since she became president. Over the past nine months, they have together violated the Constitution and all the norms set for the formation of the Assembly,” Vujinovic said.

He pointed out two reasons behind this move, one of which is the timing of potential early elections during the holiday period.

“On one hand, it’s an attempt to project a sense of stability ahead of the second round of local elections, where many opposition parties have formed coalitions, and the chances of Self-Determination winning any local administrations are very slim. The other reason concerns the timing of the upcoming early elections. Albin Kurti believes the diaspora supports him, so he wants a date when the diaspora will be in Kosovo and Metohija. Looking at the dates, December 28 seems quite likely. Most of Western Europe celebrates Christmas on December 25, and that’s when holidays begin. This means most of the Albanian diaspora will also be on vacation then. Kurti expects them to come to Kosovo and Metohija and help secure his votes. He has made a small adjustment. The fact that the diaspora didn’t fully support Self-Determination in the local elections might indicate that Kurti is miscalculating. But I believe his motivation for delaying the elections this long is precisely to ensure the diaspora comes to vote,” Vujinovic assessed.

When asked whether Osmani’s move effectively placed her at the service of Self-Determination, Vujinovic responded affirmatively, noting that opposition parties share that view.

“President Osmani is currently a direct extension of Albin Kurti, and all Albanian opposition parties claim the same. So, the 15-day period is now running, and around November 19–20 that potential constitutive session for the government should take place. All Albanian opposition parties have made it clear they will not support Mr. Konjufca. Kurti himself said last night that he has 56 votes, but we’ll see whether that becomes 61. A secret ballot isn’t possible, so it’s unlikely there will be any vote-buying. The fact that no coalition has been attempted, and that Konjufca himself insists he doesn’t want a coalition but rather ‘support’, whatever that means., tells us that the government won’t be formed,” Vujinovic stated.

He added that if the government is not formed, there will be a 10-day deadline to call elections.

“My assumption is that Ms. Osmani will wait just long enough to hit that date I mentioned earlier and continue doing what she’s done so far. Most opposition representatives, including Ms. Tahiri, insist this is because Osmani wants a second term and believes that Self-Determination, with its large number of MPs, will be key to reelecting her in the Kosovo Parliament in March next year,” Vujinovic stressed.

He noted that early elections would actually benefit the Serbs, as they could reclaim the ‘stolen’ parliamentary seat from the previous elections.

“The fact that during the last early elections in February one Serb seat was effectively stolen by Mr. Rasic and the Albanian majority presents a real opportunity now for the Serb List to reclaim its tenth mandate, as was done in Klokot. There, the current coalition prevented Albanians from interfering in the governance of a Serb-majority municipality. This would also prevent anyone outside the Serb List from becoming the deputy speaker of the Assembly. The Serb List remains the only legitimate representative of Serb interests in Kosovo and Metohija at this moment,” Vujinovic concluded.