stale

There doesn't seem to be much doubt that VV will win the elections again, but Kurti's dreamy 60% seems like science fiction that is harmful to Kosovo's fragile democracy. On the other hand, the eventual failure of the Osmani-Abdixhiku duo would pave the way for a third candidate, who says he is not a member of the LDK, to take over the party leadership, despite the string of failures he has recorded as mayor of the capital in the last five years.

Who said that the election campaign starts on May 28? Someone was joking, because we know that whenever elections are announced, the campaigns start on the same day that it is made public.

So, this time too, one should not have expected it to be an exception. First, it was a matter of who was connecting with whom in the coalition, and then of who was managing to enter the candidate lists, which are always and without exception submitted at the last moment before the deadline expires.

It was illusory to expect that all those who had more or less votes last time, according to the counting at the polling stations, would be removed from there – because in the December elections, it seems to me that none of the candidates passed the recount cleanly. However, the PDK took care not to have Paçariz on the list this time: the record holder of the votes appropriated, which, however, did not ensure his seat in parliament and the use of the opportunity to be paid from the budget during the transitional period.

There are certainly new names on the lists, no surprise, because the renewal of elections has always served the parties to remove from the list those who for one reason or another have "deserted" something. But it has also served them to select people who under normal conditions should not find a place on the electoral lists.

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Of course, the biggest surprise was the nomination of a cleric as a candidate by the LVV. And it is absolutely irrelevant where he comes from, despite the fact that this is, I believe, the reason why he was among the 110 candidates.

So, the absurdity of this starts from the fact that VV claims to be left-wing – the left that supposedly does not know religion, but knows ideology. Second, the inclusion of a politically active imam on the list makes the separation between religion and politics very problematic, especially considering Article 8 of the Constitution which defines Kosovo as a secular state and neutral in matters of religious beliefs.

In many parliamentary elections held in Kosovo, each party has had people belonging to different conservative/religious currents on its lists and then in parliamentary groups, but this is the first time that someone has included an active cleric on the list, of course to win votes in an area where traditionally they have never been able to go beyond a low limit.

And although the history of Albanians on both sides of the border has known clerical figures even in the "format" of politicians. This is because one must always take into account the context in which priests and mullahs were engaged - whether at the beginning of a new state emerging from Ottoman captivity; or during the time of survival during the Serbian occupation in the 20th century.

In a hypothetical situation where an imam could be elected as an MP, how would he manage to do two jobs at the same time? Lawyers who become MPs are not allowed to practice their profession because they participate in drafting laws and have institutional access and public influence. There could potentially be a conflict of interest. And an imam, or a priest, just the same, inserted into a party can violate secular neutrality; he can exercise a direct influence of religion on Kosovo politics and instead of dealing with his followers, he enters the service of a party. At least on paper

Bad. It's a bad and dangerous game.

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So, we had some changes in the list holders compared to the previous elections. After the "unification" with much opposition in the LDK, Osmani took the number 1 spot in the LDK and immediately after her, the party leader, Abdixhiku. The message was this: Osmani is running for president, while Abdixhiku is running for prime minister - of course with the hope that Osmani's inclusion in the list will increase the LDK to the point where it becomes an indispensable factor when the time comes to divide the seats after the elections.

This, of course, unless they are pushed angrily enough to lead us to new elections in a few months.

There was also a change in the list at AAK. For the first time since 2007, when he was not the first on the list because he was in The Hague, Haradinaj gave way to Ardian Gjini, whom he has long declared the "heir" to the party leadership. He himself took number 11, while his brother took number 50, which he has carried for several elections now.

In other parties, Hamza repeats the role, as does Kurti, who has not been a carrier except in the 2017 and 2021 elections.

After a long time, the PSD joins the race, which has clearly shown that it intends to cross the threshold, and the Social Democratic Initiative, which is aware that its political power is concentrated in a single municipality, drops out of the race for the second time.

While there is no great doubt that the winner of these elections will be VV, what is, of course, unknown is what percentage of the votes it will manage to collect. Kurti's ambition to reach 60% seems like science fiction and if it were to be achieved  It would absolutely be a huge loss for Kosovo's already fragile democracy.

But what will be followed with great attention will be the developments and results of the LDK. The lack of sufficient growth of the LDK would pave the way for the third person who is campaigning without being, as he himself says, a member of the party or even a candidate for Kosovo MP, to take over the leadership of the party within a very short time after the elections. Despite the series of failures he has recorded as mayor of the capital in the last five years.

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And while the parties are getting ready to launch the campaign before it has even officially begun, excesses that have not been seen for a long time are occurring, which are returning tractors and trucks to the streets in protest.

Two days ago, a physical attack occurred in a cafe. The attacked candidate for deputy of the VV, the attacker the current mayor of the Municipality of Skenderaj. Two people were arrested, two went to the hospital for medical assistance and were released, and Lushtaku did not go for questioning.

It was said that the reason for the attack was that Mehani had called him “Sami Serbia”. Meanwhile, Mehani said that the reason was that he had raised the issue of a misuse of millions in the municipality. Whatever the reason, the photo of Mehani covered in blood was not at all pleasant. Just as the citizens of Skenderaj did not like the deployment of special units in the city on the evening of the day when the incident occurred.

The OVL was notified and invited people to gather in front of the police station, “in support of Lushtak”. And, of course, all the public’s attention turned there. As if we were back in time when antagonism between parties was demonstrated through violence and the use of “available means”. Including tractors.

The deployment of special forces to Skenderaj, just because Lushtaku had not gone for an interview, was absolutely unnecessary. As long as the beatings are happening across Kosovo, we wouldn't even have half of Kosovo dressed in special forces uniforms to solve the problem.

The immediate failure to remove Lushtak was equally unnecessary. It was a direct call for a more rigorous police response and eventual violent arrest. For what purpose? To fan the flames of an incident that did not have tragic proportions. Unnecessarily. Or perhaps for electoral purposes.

Whatever it is, when there is so much hatred and insults that are spread especially through social networks, it doesn't take long for a spark to be ignited somewhere. Which leads nowhere and which, with all its fervor, cannot hide a fact that should worry us more than Sami Lushtaku: prices, in April, compared to the same period last year, have increased by 7,5%. This is alarming. This is a matter of survival. All this is theater.

Old!

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