Columnist Donik Sallova writes that as the elections are approaching the political discourse of parties is becoming fiercer. He says this election campaign is being characterised by concrete aspects of economic development and improvement of welfare for the citizens and that the outcome will show whether or not a political era that was identified with abuses, economic stagnation and political degradation will come to an end.

Political parties are trying to use every possible mechanism to secure as many votes as possible while, according to Sallova, the difference between the first and the second party will be quite narrow. The author notes that for the first time, Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) is facing the challenge of preserving its conservatory or militant electorate which voted for the party because it believed it politically represented the KLA war. Meanwhile, the recently-formed Initiative for Kosovo led by Fatmir Limaj and Jakup Krasniqi stands to challenge the compactness of PDK.

At the same time, the vote against this governance, i.e. PDK, will go to either Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) or Vetevendosje. The advantage of LDK against Vetevendosje, according to Sallova, is in the fact that LDK is more broadly structured in the territory of Kosovo and has a number of ‘fanatic’ voters who continue to support it because of its late leader Ibrahim Rugova. On the other hand, Vetevendosje is receiving increasing support from the youth and the voters who radically oppose the political class that governed Kosovo since the end of the conflict.

As for Alliance for Future of Kosovo (AAK), New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) and Initiative for Kosovo, they will try to win the votes from the electorate which has voted from the beginning for individuals inside these parties rather than the party itself. In addition, these three parties are considered to be potential coalition partners for PDK and this can be a disadvantage in the bid to secure votes.