Kosovo elections: The old, the new, and the new old?
Skytte Election Analysis Seminar Series webinar. Kosovo Parliamentary elections: The old, the new, and the new old?
On February 14, Kosovars will elect their parliament. The early elections are a result of a string of internal and external developments. The November 2019 parliamentary elections brought to power a reformist government, led by Albin Kurti of the Self-Determination Movement. That coalition collapsed only weeks later. A new government led by the Democratic League of Kosovo emerged, with an important task delegated to it by external patrons: to sign a Trump-administration devised agreement with Serbia in Washington.
But after the Washington deal, Kosovo’s Constitutional Court ruled that the incumbent government had come to power by a void vote in the parliament, triggering the early elections. The collapse of the Kurti government has only increased the popular support for the Self-Determination Movement, promising an unprecedented electoral victory of close to – or more than – 50% of votes. Yet the numerous shifts and confusions of the recent years mean that these elections are taking place in a rather un-ideological setting. With the right and left attitudes and discourses dissolving, the clashing “ideologies” are presented as those between “the new” and “the old” – people believe that “the new” will trump “the old”, but is it just a false expectation if the players are the same old? What implications will the election results have on the power dynamics within the country, between Kosovo and Serbia and the other power players?
Join the member of our De Facto State Research Unit and Lecturer at the Institute of Political Science in Leiden University, Shpend Kursani, for the Skytte Election Analysis Seminar on Kosovo parliamentary elections, taking place on February 16th from 14:15-15:30 (UTC+2) on Zoom (Passcode: 266150).
NB! The event will not be recorded!
Additional information: Kristel Vits, CEERES Coordinator, kristel.vits [ät] ut.ee
Evelyn Pihla
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
University of Tartu