This Thursday’s Life in Kosovo TV show debated the preliminary results of the parliamentary and local authority elections held on November 17.

Are the political parties satisfied with the electoral campaign? Are political parties satisfied with people’s turnout at the elections? What do the parties think of the work of the Central Election Commission? And what do they make of the preliminary results? What kind of coalition might form the next government? When will the new administration be established?

 

To discuss these issues, the following panellists had been invited into the studio:

Ardian Gjini – Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK;
Berim Ramosaj – Democratic League of Dardania, LDD;
Dukagjin Gorani – Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK;
Fadil Maloku – Alliance for a New Kosovo, AKR;
Gazmend Muhaxheri- Reformist Party ORA;
Ismet Beqiri – Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK;

The first official preliminary results of the November 17 elections, with around 90 per cent of the votes counted, show that the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, is leading with 34 per cent of the vote. The PDK is followed by the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, which has seen its support drop significantly to just 22 per cent of the vote. The Alliance for a New Kosovo, AKR, won 12.1 per cent of the vote, while the Democratic League of Dardania, LDD, won 10.4 per cent. The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK won 10 per cent, while the results show that the reformist party ORA won just 4.2 per cent of the vote, at this stage in the count falling short of the 5 per cent needed to enter parliament.

The latest results are not final. The Central Electoral Commission still needs to count the so called conditional votes, of people who were not able to cast their votes at their own polling stations, and also some 10,000 postal ballots from voters outside Kosovo.

During the debate Beqiri said that these percentages are a result of the low turnout.

“However, we will analyze everything in order to see what has failed.”

According to Beqiri the low turnout has to do with the undefined political status of Kosovo and that people are disillusioned because of this issue.

Gorani said that PDK is the winner of these elections, because it won the majority of the votes.

“There are always losers and winners”, he emphasised.

Gjini said that the AAK did not feel bad simply because it was mostly like to become a opposition party.

“Every party should be in opposition for some time”, Gjini said, and stressed that while in opposition, parties can work more with their inner organisation and develop the party and its progamme.

Muhaxheri said that according to the latest results, ORA will after all pass the parliament threshold of 5 per cent.

“We’ve managed to keep up with the last election’s results in Peja, because we have worked hard and we have functioned as a team”, he said, stressing that ORA had not lost votes in the city of Peja/Pec.

Gorani said that this time people realised that their vote meant something and that they really had the power to change the government.

Ramosaj admitted that the LDD was not quite satisfied with the percentage of votes it had won.

“We have some complaints against the CEC and the whole voting procedure”, he noted.

Beqiri stressed that the PDK had not increased the number of its votes.

“It’s a low turnout”, he said, “and therefore the PDK has a higher percentage, which doesn’t mean that they have more voters.”

Gorani made it clear that the PDK was willing to form an effective government.

Maloku argued for a comprehensive analysis of why so many voters had decided not to cast their ballots.

Ramosaj said no one could deny the PDK’s victory, but added: “PDK has taken the lead – we respect the verdict of the citizens, but the low turnout is fading the winner’s real colours.”

Maloku explained that Kosovo was having to deal with two important inter-related issues.

“Kosovo is facing two major obstacles: the status issue and democracy building”, Maloku said.

All panellists agreed that a new government needs to be formed soon, and in a dynamic way in order to be prepared for the coming events that are awaiting Kosovo after December 10 when the deadline for concluding talks on Kosovo’s status runs out.

Following the debate, Life in Kosovo broadcast another episode of its political and social satire, “Dhandrri i Kosoves” (Kosovo Son-in-law).