Vujinovic: Kosovo moving closer to elections, which would not suit Self-Determination

Security studies researcher Nikola Vujinovic assessed that Kosovo was currently closer to new snap parliamentary elections than to an agreement among the parties on the election of a President. Speaking to Kosovo Online, he also assessed that new elections would currently suit the opposition parties, the LDK and PDK, more than Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination.

“Yesterday, it seemed that the amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers were a bargaining chip in the negotiations over the President and that the PDK would manage to reach an agreement with Self-Determination. However, we saw that those talks were unsuccessful and that Self-Determination MPs managed to leave parliament despite the protests and the blockade,” he said.

Vujinovic noted that the situation in Kosovo was changing rapidly and that, only a month ago, new elections had suited Self-Determination, whereas he was no longer certain that this was the case.

“Not in the sense that they will lose the elections. They will remain the strongest force within the Albanian political community, but they know that they cannot achieve the goal they have been pursuing for the past two years—to secure absolute power,” Vujinovic said.

He added that elections would suit the PDK and LDK because they could capitalize on Self-Determination’s ambivalent position toward the Specialist Chambers and the judgment against the four former KLA leaders.

“The fact is that, despite its public expressions of support, Self-Determination is not demonstrating in practice that it wants to help those convicted, nor does it support amendments to the law that would undermine the Specialist Chambers,” Vujinovic concluded.

The constitutional deadline for electing the President of Kosovo expires at midnight. If the Assembly fails to elect a President by then, parliament will automatically be dissolved and snap elections will be called. They must be held within 45 days, meaning that voting would have to take place no later than November 15.

The Constitutional Court determined that the 60-day deadline for electing the President began to run on August 8 and expires today. The question of electing the President has been at the center of political developments in recent weeks, but the political parties have so far failed to reach an agreement on a candidate or secure the necessary votes.