• COVID-19: 285 new cases, five deaths (media)
• Kurti: We don’t avoid talks with Serbia, but first justice and employment (VOA)
• Konjufca: We’ll form government without being dependent on SL (media)
• VV says diaspora votes with expired documents should not be annulled (media)
• Pacolli: I will vote in favor of Osmani for President (media)
• Berisha: Dialogue with Serbia is in Kosovo’s national interest (Koha)
• LDK’s Rugova: Resigned chairmanship trying to impose new leader (media)
• Ahmeti: VV to form coalition with PDK or LDK for greater stability (media)
• Adrijana Hodzic denies deal with Srpska Lista (BIRN)
• “Those assumed to be obstructing justice in Kosovo must be identified” (RFE)
• Serbian church elects patriarch deemed close to president (BIRN)
• TV debate discusses multilingualism and Balkanistics program (Kanal 10)

COVID-19: 285 new cases, five deaths (media) 

Kosovo has recorded 297 new cases of COVID-19 and five deaths in the last 24 hours. 319 persons have recovered from the virus during this time, while the number of active cases is 6,818.

Kurti: We don’t avoid talks with Serbia, but first justice and employment (VOA)

Vetevendosje Movement (VV) leader Albin Kurti said in an interview with the Voice of America that he does not underestimate the talks with Serbia but that he cannot make them a priority in the work of the new government.

“We don’t want to avoid the dialogue or underestimate its importance, but we believe that the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo have chosen us to bring justice and employment. And, of course, it is urgent to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kurti said.

Kurti highlighted the draft law on confiscation of unjustifiable wealth and the anti-mafia draft law among the primary objectives of the new government. “We must start with the draft law for our diaspora, which must have the right to vote in embassies and consulates; we should also start with the draft law on confiscation of unjustifiable property and the anti-mafia draft law; we must return the customs terminals that have been given to private companies in the country,” Kurti said. He also implied that some decisions of the outgoing government will be annulled.

Talking about the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurti said “our goal will be the allocation of funds, the programming of priorities for the social strata for vaccination of about 60 percent of the population this year” and that this would be done in cooperation with the European Union and the United States of America.

Konjufca: We’ll form government without being dependent on SL (media) 

Vetevendosje Movement (VV) senior member Glauk Konjufca said in interview with T7 on Thursday that the new government formed by VV will not be dependent on the votes of the Serbian List. “So far it seems that the Vetevendosje-led government will include two or three MPs from non-Serb communities,” he said.

Konjufca said he is certain that the new government must be formed without being conditioned by the Serbian List. “We need to secure 61 votes without the Serbian List,” he argued.

Konjufca also left open the possibility of cooperating with other Albanian political parties. “We can talk with the Albanian parties for a broader stability. But when we add the diaspora, and some MPs that were part of the Kurti 1 government, we will form the new government with Kurti as Prime Minister,” he added.

Konjufca said he was confident that after the votes of the diaspora are counted, Vetevendosje will have won over 50 percent of the total vote.

VV says diaspora votes with expired documents should not be annulled (media) 

Most news websites reported on Thursday evening that Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has decided to recount votes from 12 polling stations in ten municipalities. At the meeting it was decided that the conditional votes that failed to respect the procedures will be annulled. A Vetevendosje Movement (VV) representative in the CEC said that the diaspora votes with expired documents but which are valid must not be annulled. The VV representative also criticised the Counting and Results Centre for delays in the vote count.

Pacolli: I will vote in favor of Osmani for President (media) 

New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) leader Behgjet Pacolli said in an interview with Klan Kosova that he will vote in favor of the formation of the Kurti government and that he will vote in favor of Vjosa Osmani as President of Kosovo.

“I voted in favor of the formation of all governments, because of my constructive role and because I know how damaging a political vacuum can be for the country. I will vote for the Kurti government too, although they don’t need me vote,” he said.

Pacolli also said he would vote in favor of Osmani as new President of Kosovo “if my vote is needed”.

Berisha: Dialogue with Serbia is in Kosovo’s national interest (Koha)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) member Visa Berisha said in an interview with KTV on Thursday that ending the hundreds year old conflict with Serbia is in Kosovo’s national interest but also that its national interests must not be threatened from this. “Dialogue with Serbia, ending the hundreds year old conflict with Serbia is in the country’s national interest and it should happen as soon as possible, certainly while not damaging our national interest. There is no alternative to this and we will very soon a very strong knock on the new government’s door for this process to be concluded,” Berisha said.

LDK’s Rugova: Resigned chairmanship trying to impose new leader (media)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) member Naser Rugova said on Thursday that despite the resignation of party leader Isa Mustafa after the poor results in the parliamentary elections, the resigned chairmanship is trying to impose their candidate as new leader of the party. He said that the only way out of the current crisis in the party is a democratic process, with an open race and many candidates. “These days the resigned chairmanship is trying to impose its own candidate for the new leader. Despite the catastrophic results in the elections, the ideas of clans and tricks are still alive,” he said.

Ahmeti: VV to form coalition with PDK or LDK for greater stability (media) 

Prishtina Mayor Shpend Ahmeti said in an interview with Klan Kosova on Thursday that the results of the parliamentary elections should create no more crisis in the formation of the new government, adding that the 48 percent of votes won by Kurti’s Vetevendosje Movement offer a clean mandate.

Ahmeti also said that Vetevendosje should form a coalition with the second or third political in order to have greater stability. “I don’t think the Vetevendosje Movement should govern alone. If it has 58 MPs and say for example it agrees with all (non-Serb) MPs, in the best case it would get 65 MPs. I don’t think they should have only 65 MPs in this mandate … They should seek a coalition, not because they need it, but because it would bring greater stability. I would go to the LDK, or the PDK,” he argued.

Adrijana Hodzic denies deal with Srpska Lista (BIRN)

Kosovo Bosniak politician Adrijana Hodzic has denied making arrangements with Srpska Lista to secure MPs for her citizens initiative despite receiving huge numbers of votes in Serb-majority municipalities.

In an interview with BIRN, Adrijana Hodzic, leader of the Ujedinjena Zajednica – Adrijana Hodzic citizens initiative, UZ-AH, rejected claims made by other Kosovo Bosniak parties about irregularities in Sunday’s election.

Running for the first time in parliamentary elections, UZ-AH won 6,379 votes on Sunday, and the initiative looks set to finish as the most voted political entity vying for the three seats allocated to the Bosniak community at the Kosovo Assembly.

Other parties competing with UZ-AH include the Vakat Coalition, who are currently on 5,672 votes, Nova Demokrastska Stranka, NDS, who are on 2,763 votes, and Socialdemokratska Unija, SDU, who are on 2,434.

Anesa Colakovic of NDS told Prishtina Insight that, as the results stand currently, UZ-AH, the Vakat coalition and NDS will each receive one MP. She added that this situation may change depending on postal votes received from abroad, which are still being verified and counted.

However, representatives of NDS and SDU have accused both UZ-AH and Vakat of collaborating with the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista in order to win these seats.

Before the election, Duda Balje of the SDU told BIRN that Srpska Lista was looking to encourage its voters to back candidates sympathetic to the party from Kosovo’s non-Serb ethnic non-majority communities. She claimed that the Belgrade-backed party was trying to increase its influence at the Kosovo Assembly, particularly highlighting Adrijana Hodzic’s UZ-AH initiative.

Following the election, the SDU leader, who is currently set to lose her seat at the Assembly, has accused multiple Kosovo Bosniak parties of receiving votes in areas where “no Bosniak lives.”

Meanwhile, Emilija Redzepi of NDS has stated that Srpska Lista had a direct influence on the election of Kosovo Bosniak MPs, and aimed to win all three seats representing Kosovo’s Bosniak community. She too cited votes for Bosniak parties in Serb-majority areas as evidence.

Responding to the accusations, Hodzic told BIRN that her political rivals were worried about losing power and were aware that these allegations were untrue. “The attack against me has only one purpose: to preserve the seats that they lost,” she said.

Hodzic added that she has no common political goals with Srpska Lista, and stated that she would “certainly not” join the party’s parliamentary group at the Kosovo Assembly.

However, according to data on Sunday’s election results released by the Kosovo Central Election Commission, it is clear that UZ-AH won large numbers of votes in Serb-majority municipalities, and fewer in areas heavily populated by Kosovo’s Bosniak community.

In the Municipality of Prizren, where according to the OSCE more than 16,000 Bosniaks reside, UZ-AH won only 225 votes compared to a total of around 6,500 votes that were cast for Vakat, NDS and SDU.

Meanwhile in Kosovo’s four northern Serb-majority municipalities (Leposavic, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and North Mitrovica), UZ-AH received 3,772 votes, more than half of its overall total. Conversely, the other three Bosniak parties received a total of less than 300 votes between them in these municipalities, 218 of which were for Vakat in Leposavic.

UZ-AH also received 1,237 votes in the municipalities of Partesh, Ranilug, Novo Brdo and Strpce, while according to municipal profiles compiled by the OSCE in 2018, there are only a total of 22 Kosovo Bosniaks residing in these areas. In Partesh, UZ-AH received 183 votes, despite the municipality having no documented Bosniak community.

Hodzic conceded to BIRN that she did not do any in-person campaigning in these municipalities, but denied that Srpska Lista were to thank for the votes she received. “None of the votes that I received were bought or forced by any sort of pressure,” Hodzic said.

However, Balje has promised to take the issue to the Constitutional Court, and told Prishtina Insight that the election results were the product of “a planned attack on the multi-ethnic state.”

“I lost as I have no power to fight Serbia,” Balje said. “It was clear Hodzic was supported by Serbia.”

“Those assumed to be obstructing justice in Kosovo must be identified” (RFE)

Mark Ellis, executive director of the London-based International Bar Association, said in an interview with the news website that every effort to undermine the importance of justice is problematic and that the international community and the public must know more about this and who stands behind such efforts. Ellis made these remarks while commenting on reports that the Specialist Chambers in The Hague are faced with continuous pressure aimed at undermining the work of this institution.

Ellis said the international community will continue to oppose any effort to change the mandate of the court. He said the Specialist Chambers were formed and based in The Hague for “proper reasons”.

“History shows us that it is very difficult to try high-profile people in the country where they were born or live in. For this reason, these courts are established outside national borders. It is easier for the court to deal, for example, with witness protection,” he said.

Serbian church elects patriarch deemed close to president (BIRN)

The influential Serbian Orthodox Church has elected a relatively young new new leader in Porfirije Peric, aged 59 – who in the past has made known his sympathies for Serbia’s government and President.

Bishops of Serbia’s powerful Orthodox Church on Thursday elected Porfirije Peric as their 46th patriarch.

The new Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovac and Patriarch of Serbia had previously, since 2014, been Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana.

From 2010 to 2011, he was the bishop of the Serbian army, and then coordinator for cooperation between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian army.

Earlier, in 2005, he was elected representative of churches and religious communities in the country’s Broadcasting Agency Council, RRA. The same council elected him as its president in 2008, a position he held until 2014.

Born in Becej, in 1961, he finished elementary school in Curug and high school in Novi Sad, capital of Serbia’s northern Vojvodina province.

In 1986, he graduated from the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Belgrade. Just before that, he was ordained a monk in the famous Decani monastery in Kosovo in 1985. He completed postgraduate studies in Athens, where he remained until 1990. He received his doctorate in 2004 from the theology faculty of the University of Athens.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is by far the largest faith group in Serbia and weilds great influence in public life, especially on such topics like the former province of Kosovo.

In the months following the death of Patriarch Irinej, there was much speculation about of whether the state would try to interfere in the election of a new patriarch.

Porfirije’s election may well satisfy the government, as he is considered close to President Aleksandar Vucic and his regime.

He has on occasion made conservative, pro-government views known. In an article for Serbia’s Tanjug news agency in December 2020, he criticized an article written by the well known anti-war figure Sonja Biserko, complaining of an “orchestrated campaign against the Republic of Serbia, its President and its Government, and almost the entire Serbian people”, which he said could “jeopardize visible progress in establishing mutual understanding and thus return the region to a state of political tension”.

Porfirije also spearheaded the firing of critical professors from the Church’s Faculty of Theology in Belgrade who had spoken out against abuse and corruption in that institution.

The Assembly of Bishops started on Thursday morning with a liturgy in the cathedral-sized St Sava Temple in Belgrade, and the process of voting started at noon.

According to the rules, candidates for patriarch can be any of the bishops with at least five years of diocesan service. A total of 39 members of the Assembly had the right to vote.

The bishops first choose among themselves until they select three candidates. Then, in the second round, the three names are placed in three envelopes in a Gospel. The one pulled out is a matter of luck, or, to believers, the expression of the will of the Holy Spirit.

Patriarch Irinej died aged 90 in November 2020 as a consequence of complications related to COVID-19. Early in November he presided over the funeral of Metropolitan Amfilohije Radovic, the Church’s senior bishop in Montenegro, who also died of COVID-related complications. He succumbed soon after.

TV debate discusses multilingualism and Balkanistics program (Kanal 10)

A discussion on Kanal 10 Prime Time on Tuesday evening focused on the Balkanistics program, with panelists saying that the project within Prishtina University of learning languages of people in the Balkans will serve as a bridge for communities living in Kosovo and beyond.

Slavisa Mladenovic from the Language Commissioner’s Office said the program would help better integrate people in Kosovar society.

Lindita Rugova, Dean at the Philological Faculty, said the project could start in October this year. She said Kosovo must organise conferences on languages of the Balkans as this is done in other parts of the world.

“Communities cannot integrate in Kosovar society without learning the languages of other communities,” said Acting Deputy Minister of Education, Xhavit Rexhaj.

Mladenovic echoed the remarks saying that minority communities must learn the Albanian language and that Kosovo Albanians should learn the languages of communities.

Before the start of the discussion, the TV channel aired the UNMIK-made documentary “With Throw in Strawberries, A Taste of Multilingualism in Kosovo”.

Panelists also talked about Vocup, a web-based language learning tool, supported by UNMIK and IOM. “It is the most massive language learning program in the region,” Mladenovic said during the discussion.