After the conclusion of the general elections of 14th of February in Kosovo, which saw a landslide victory of Vetëvendosje, two of Kosovo’s biggest allies have asked the continuation of the path towards a normalization of the relations with Serbia. Initially, the High Representative/ Vice-President Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Váehelyi, released yesterday a statement saying that “Kosovo’s European path also goes through the comprehensive normalisation of relations with Serbia and the EU expects the new authorities in Pristina to engage constructively with a view to a continuation of the meetings of the EU-facilitated Dialogue and seize the opportunity in front of them to reach a comprehensive agreement.”
Following the same line of discourse, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, while congratulating the Acting President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani on the 13th Anniversary of Kosovo’s Independence, reminded her that “there is a great deal of work to be done, including securing a comprehensive normalization agreement with Serbia centered on mutual recognition.” These calls for dialogue comes as many expect from Kurti to take a tougher stance with Serbia compared to his predecessors. On this issue, Kurti told on Monday to AFP that “The dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo must change our countries for the better […] We need to discuss with Serbia honestly, openly, seriously, and with people as the end beneficiaries,” said the expected next Prime Minister of Kosovo, adding that “reciprocity, equality cannot be the end result (of the talks), it must be the initial point, and people the end beneficiaries,” said Kurti.
The Central Election Commission of Kosovo has finished the counting process on 2,382 polling stations across the country. Vetëvendosje, led by Albin Kurti, has received 378,550 votes, or 47,85% of the votes, increasing with 157,739 votes the number of votes from the previous elections held on the 6th of October, 2019. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Kosovo has received 137,722 of votes, which means that is now the second party, with 17,41% of the votes. During the last elections, the party was ranked third, with 178,645 votes, or 21,23%. In the third place was placed the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), with 103,507 votes, or 13,08%. If we compare these numbers with the one LDK received in the last elections (206,458 votes, or 24,45%), that LDK has lost over half of its voters. Not surprisingly, the leader of the party, Isa Mustafa, resigned on Monday, after seeing his party lose 102,951 in less than two years.
