Kosovo like Spain

Like us, within five months Spain had to hold two extraordinary elections as a result of political paralysis. Like us, blockade became fashionable, while compromise became a dirty word.

“Nowhere in the world does this happen,” is a saying we often use in our lives – country, no country. But this was my initial reaction when I realized that we would indeed go to new elections. To be honest, my belief was that we would not go to elections and that, despite public statements, political parties would find some kind of compromise at the last moment. When this belief of mine finally collapsed, I became curious to understand whether other countries have ever found themselves in this kind of position. I believe that this curiosity of mine was motivated by the need to rationalize the situation in which we found ourselves and to serve as a kind of guide as to how we too can now get out of this situation. In other words, if others have succeeded, we will succeed too. This curiosity of mine resulted in the last three columns, where I explained how although this is a new situation for us, other countries have experienced this kind of situation before us. In this context, three recent columns have spoken about the experiences of Israel, Bulgaria, and Greece as examples of what kind of futures Kosovo could also expect.

I will conclude this series of columns today with the latest country that has found itself in the same situation as us today and what kind of future this country's experience suggests for Kosovo. This final story takes us to Spain.

Like us, in 2015 Spain had to hold two extraordinary elections within five months as a result of political paralysis. As in our country, blockade became fashionable, while compromise became a dirty word. For more than thirty years, Spain has been governed between two main political forces: the Popular Party (PP) and the Socialists (PSOE). Think of these as a kind of PDK and LDK here. So for a long time these two parties have governed Spain. All this changed in 2015. In 2015, a new, radical and energetic party revolutionized the Spanish political scene. PODEMOS was born from the Popular Movement of Discontent – ​​a civic initiative that opposed government measures to manage the global financial crisis. In the 2015 elections – their first elections – PODEMOS nearly came in second place, largely damaging the PSOE (or LDK in our analogy). Thus, the December 2015 elections divided the political scene into three main actors. The People's Party, although it had won the elections, had an unprecedented decline and its legitimacy was highly controversial due to mismanagement and corruption. The PSOE, although it had suffered significant losses, had narrowly retained second place. And the new and radical PODEMOS party whose victory had revolutionized the Spanish political scene. Now with the conclusion of the elections, Spain was at a crossroads – constructiveness on the part of political parties and the creation of new institutions or a blockade and new elections. According to the Spanish political model, the winner of the elections (PP) was able to create the Spanish government and institutions and for this did not need the vote of other parties - abstention would be sufficient. The hope was especially for the PSOE (our LDK) to show institutional responsibility and demonstrate constructiveness in order to avoid new elections. However, the opposition parties rejected constructiveness and chose the blockade. Thus, the country was forced to immediately hold new elections. The new elections condemned political gridlock and rewarded constructiveness. The PP grew and was rewarded for its constructiveness, while the PSOE and PODEMOS were punished with a loss of votes. And here we reach the most critical moment of the Spanish example. Historically, the PSOE was a traditional Spanish institutionalist party that had just lost heavily in two consecutive elections and now had recorded its weakest historical result in the repeated elections. Now the PSOE was at a crossroads – should it continue its blockade and risk new elections again, or should it be constructive and enable the formation of a PP government? The PSOE chose constructiveness and, through abstention, allowed the election of the government of its sworn opponent. Its leader, Javier Fernández, said, "Between continuing the blockade and abstaining, abstention is the lesser evil." For this decision, she will be massacred by the new and radical PODEMOS party, but the Spanish blockade ended and Spain gained new institutions. Although the constructive and responsible vote of the PSOE (our LDK) will cause chaos and trauma within the party in the short term, in the long term it will reward the PSOE with a return to power and nearly a decade of continuous governance of Spain. That new, radical and blockbuster PODEMOS party will eventually disappear from the Spanish political scene.

Everything that has happened in Spain sounds very familiar to us here in Kosovo: the dominance of establishment parties and the arrival of a new force that overturns the political order, the refusal of compromise and the blockage of political and institutional life, the political militarization of constitutional and legal proceedings, the mutual blaming of political parties for the situation that has arisen. We, like the Spaniards, are experiencing all of this. And now, like the Spaniards, we will hold two elections within five months. 

Thus, we learn two things from the example of Spain. First, the blockade is sanctioned by the citizens. The PSOE (our LDK) has been penalized for anti-institutionalist behavior by the Spanish citizens. In its zeal to be tougher and more extreme towards the majority than the radical party PODEMOS, it lost its moral compass and institutionalist reason. This brought it two historic defeats within five months. The second thing the example of Spain teaches us is that political responsibility is rewarded in the long run. It has been extremely difficult for the PSOE to enable the formation of a government by its fiercest opponent. This act almost destroyed the party. But it was a right act. An act that truly lived out the highest standard in politics – it put the country before the party. Time has proven how right it was. 

What the opposition has done in Spain is not achieved through electoral calculations, it is not taught by spin doctors and it is not imposed by Washington or Berlin. It is political culture and maturity. You either have that or you don't. Nobody teaches you that. Now we will soon understand if our opposition has such a thing.