Elections in Kosovo: Power will be formed by anti-Serb radicals
In Kosovo, captured by Albanian separatists, the counting of votes in early elections to the local “parliament” is being completed. Preliminary data indicate a victory for Albin Kurti's Self-Determination Party, with 25,76% of the votes, Beta reported. Kurti himself has already made claims to form a new “government” and voiced demands for Serbia to recognize the independence of the illegally seized region.
Kurti was in opposition to Ramush Haradinaj, who was forced to resign as “prime minister” last summer after being summoned to The Hague to appear at a trial on war crimes in Kosovo.
“When the opposition becomes the government, then change will succeed. Change will happen thanks to our victory,” Kurti said, naming Isa Mustafi’s Democratic Union of Kosovo party (which also has about 25% of the vote and could theoretically still come out on top) as a potential ally.
Kurti, according to local media, has already assured that under his leadership there will be no question of what Kosovo will give to Serbia in exchange for recognition, but only of Serbia's debt to the false state.
The top three leaders in the race are closed by the former ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo, Kadri Veseli, with 22,28%. Now she will go into opposition.
The overall winner of the elections in the Serbian enclaves of Kosovo is the Serbian List party. (All other Serbian parties, including Rada Trajkovic’s Union for Kosovo, which is in opposition to official Belgrade, collectively did not receive even 1,3% of the votes).
The leader of the Serbian List, Goran Rakic, said that the political force received more than 98% of the votes in municipalities with a majority of Serbs. After processing ballots from 95,64% of polling stations, the party gains about 6,22% of the votes.
Even with an incomplete count, the Serbian List has already received more votes than in the last elections in 2017.
Thus, the Serbs will be able to claim approximately 10 seats out of 120 in the “parliament” of Kosovo.
It is expected that in the near future the newly elected deputies will consider six candidates for the post of “prime minister” of Kosovo - five from the Albanian and one from the Serbian community.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic considers the result of the “Serbian List” to be good.
“Congratulations to the Serbian List for more than 90 percent of the votes cast in all Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija under the most difficult conditions to date,” the Prime Minister wrote on her Twitter account, thanking the Serbian population for their unity.
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic predicts a complex process of bargaining between the winners of the electoral race and the creation of a ruling coalition in the Kosovo “parliament”. The head of the foreign policy department said this when commenting on his conversation with the US State Department special representative for the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer.
“The Americans themselves say that now this is a more difficult process, given that this is the first time they are faced with Self-Determination, a party advocating a Greater Albania,” Dacic said.
However, he expressed hope that the new government will lift the economic blockade of Serbian enclaves, as had been predicted more than once before the elections. “It’s one thing they say when they are in opposition, and another thing when they come to power,” Dacic recalled about the behavior of Albanian politicians.
“We cannot influence who the Kosovo Albanians elect, but we must cooperate with everyone, regardless of whether anyone likes the party. In any case, we expect continuation of the dialogue, the abolition of taxes and the creation of conditions for finding a compromise solution,” the minister emphasized.
“We need to sit down at the negotiating table with existing proposals. We had documents that we signed, after all, it was unacceptable for us to change any of this. As far as I understand, the international community also wants a compromise, not further tightening of relations. It disciplines them,” Dacic said.
He recalled that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina was never easy, because Pristina never wanted to discuss a compromise, but advocated a unilateral solution.
“The dialogue will not be easy, but we will see what its pace will be. It depends on when the government in Pristina will be formed, who will participate in the negotiations, and when it comes to the European Union, we should expect a new person to take the place of Federica Mogherini. The international community was waiting for the elections to end, the elections are over, now it's up to them. Serbia has done its job,” Dacic said.
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