• Elezi: No more ballots to count; parties can complain within 48 hours (EO)
• Vetevendosje: 51.11% of people’s will; most voted party in Kosovo’s history (media)
• Gender quota brings some changes to the composition of the new Assembly (AP)
• Hamza thanks supporters: We take this trust with great responsibility (Klan Kosova)
• Abdixhiku: We bow with full respect to the verdict of the people (media)
• “Serb community should seek greater investment from new authorities” (Kosovo Online)

Elezi: No more ballots to count; parties can complain within 48 hours (EO)

Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has completed the vote count 12 days after the December 28 parliamentary elections. CEC spokesperson Valmir Elezi told the news website today that parties now have 48 to complain about and afterwards the commission will announce the final election results.

Vetevendosje: 51.11% of people’s will; most voted party in Kosovo’s history (media)

Most news websites cover a Facebook post by the Vetevendosje Movement today in which they said that the December 28 parliamentary election results confirmed it as the most voted party in the history of Kosovo. “486,994 votes – 51.11% of the people’s will. Thank you to all citizens of the Republic of Kosovo who did not give up and voted for security and prosperity. Thank you to each and every one for their outstanding support and our powerful victory in the December 28 elections!” the post notes.

Gender quota brings some changes to the composition of the new Assembly (AP)

The news website reports that the 30 percent gender quota for women’s representation in the Kosovo Assembly, introduced by UNMIK in 2000, has left six men out of the new legislative. From the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Bekim Haxhiu and Hajdar Beqa will be replaced by Ariana Musliu-Shoshi and Arbnore Salihu. From the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), two female candidates have managed to win seats in the new Assembly through the gender quota. Time Kadrijaj and Albana Bytyqi will be part of the new legislative, leaving out their fellow party candidates Agim Ceku and Burim Ramadani. Verica Ceranic, from the Serbian List, has also secured a seat through the gender quota, leaving out Branislav Nikolic. Similarly, Fatma Taci from the KDTP has been elected MP although she got less votes than Ergul Mazrek.

Hamza thanks supporters: We take this trust with great responsibility (Klan Kosova)

Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Bedri Hamza, in a Facebook post today, thanked all people who voted for this party in the December 28 parliamentary elections. “Thank you! The vote count is over. The Democratic Party of Kosovo won 192,407 and is ranked as second. We take this trust with great responsibility,” he said.

Hamza also said that “in a difficult and unequal race, maintaining our vote is proof that thousands of citizens believe in the work, seriousness and values represented by the PDK. This trust obliges us like never before to reorganize, consolidate our ranks and intensify our political actions. The PDK will continue to work for every citizen, without any difference, in every platform where we are present, with the conviction that Kosovo deserves more and better”.

Abdixhiku: We bow with full respect to the verdict of the people (media)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lumir Abdixhiku said in a Facebook post today that this party’s result in the December 28 parliamentary elections “was not what we expected; far from what we expected. But it is the verdict of the people of our country, and we bow to it with full respect”. He said that the LDK and no individual will avoid responsibility and reflection. He also said that once the election results are certified, the LDK presidency will convene and decisions will be made at the party’s council. “There we will address all political, organizational and decision-making issues – above all the responsibility and the vision on moving forward,” he said.

“Serb community should seek greater investment from new authorities” (Kosovo Online)

Political analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu told Kosovo Online that during Albin Kurti’s next term, the Serbian community should not view the authorities with hostility, but should instead seek greater investment in the municipalities where Serbs live, as well as higher employment. Such demands, he believes, could yield results and the authorities would not ignore them.

In his view, it has been shown that it is not true that Kurti was against the Serbian community in Kosovo. “Kurti succeeded in expelling the Serbian state from Kosovo, and that is a fact. This may not be good news for Belgrade or for the authorities in Belgrade, but that does not mean this is a campaign against the Serbian minority. Perhaps Serbs in Kosovo would like to live in the state of Serbia, that is, for the state of Serbia to function in Kosovo and for there to be no state of Kosovo, but that is a fact that emerged from the 1999 war and was realized under Kurti’s rule. But essentially, this is not an action against the Serbian minority,” Spahiu says.

The final integration of the north, according to him, has been achieved and there is nothing more to be done in terms of formal integration. “By the very fact that representatives of the Serbian List won, there is now legitimate and legal authority in the northern municipalities of Kosovo. They were sworn in under the flags of Kosovo and all of that is fine. There is nothing more to be done in terms of formal integration. Substantive integration, however, implies greater investment in the north and higher employment, and that is a process that continues throughout Kosovo,” he notes.

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