“Everyone is united against us,” says Albin Kurti, describing the political scene in Kosovo according to his Vetevendosje Movement. For the largest party in the country, every move by the opposition is a direct challenge to it. But for some observers, this perception is more a strategic choice by Vetevendosje than a reflection of political reality.

On the night of the second round of local elections, on November 9, the leader of Vetëvendosje trumpeted his party's victory in seven municipalities in Kosovo, despite what he called unusual political conditions.

"I thank our candidates, their teams, election headquarters and our activists, who have had an extraordinary battle, since in all these cases, everyone else has united against Vetëvendosje," said Kurti, who is also the acting prime minister.

In the wake of this discourse, he also, in a Facebook post where he thanked citizens for participating in the runoff, said that Vetëvendosje "could not be stopped even by the unity of all opponents."

This approach was also reinforced by his party colleague, Xhelal Sveçla, who described Vetëvendosje's loss in Pristina as the result of a "coalition of bargaining", not ideas.

In a Facebook post, he wrote that "the LDK-PDK-AAK coalition, oligarchs and some quasi-media will cost the citizen the most. It remains for our commitment to minimize the damage and reduce the price, always for the benefit of the citizen and society."

Visar Ymeri, executive director of the Musine Kokalari Institute for Social Policy in Pristina, does not see the situation as a united front against Vetëvendosje. He points out that in the local elections, this party has cooperated with almost all other parties, just as the others have cooperated with each other.

"For example, AAK has supported Vetevendosje in Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje; Vetevendosje has supported AAK in Junik; Vetevendosje has supported PDK in Dragash, and so on. All of this has happened in these local elections, despite the polarization at the central level of political parties," Ymeri tells Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Expose program.

On the center stage, Vetëvendosje failed to secure the necessary majority in the February 9 elections to govern alone, and failed to find partners for cooperation. With neither party accepting the other's terms, the Assembly remained deadlocked and the Government continues to function in office.

The legal deadline for Vetëvendosje's mandate, Glauk Konjufca, to present the new government composition expires on November 19. Without the support of other parties, Kosovo's path seems open to early elections.

The major parties have already declared that they will not vote for Konjufca. Their representatives accuse Kurti of having wasted eight months with political manipulations and tactics, while the current situation, according to them, proves that his party cannot secure a majority "not even in its best dreams."

In the eyes of observers, both camps that present themselves as constructive could have done more, but the main burden falls on the largest party, which, having the opportunity to mediate and facilitate dialogue, has chosen to reinforce the narrative of polarization.

Agon Maliqi says that Vetëvendosje was served by the narrative of "the best force against all the evil of the past" in 2021, when it won over 50 percent of the vote. But today, this message has lost its power and no longer supports the party as it once did.

"... because the former opposition parties are no longer the same, they also have different leadership. It was clearly seen in the last national elections that they have grown and have returned some of the trust - not all of it. And, likewise, in the local elections many municipalities have won," Maliqi tells Exposena.

Vetëvendosje also came first in the 2019 national elections, but with about a quarter of the votes, it only stayed in power for about 50 days, after the coalition with LDK collapsed.

The party's growth two years later has been partly attributed to Kurti's alliance with the then-incumbent president, Vjosa Osmani, who left the LDK to join Kurti.

Known for provocative actions, such as throwing tear gas at the Parliament, Vetëvendosje was born in the early 2000s as a protest movement against local elites and international influence in post-war Kosovo - then under UN administration.

Since entering politics in 2011, it has begun to transform into an institutional force, toning down its radical tone over time. It has contested elections with an anti-corruption narrative, presenting itself as an alternative to the old political class, which it believes has abused power.

According to analyst Agon Maliqi, even now it seems to be an attempt by Vetëvendosje to impose its will at all costs, repeating in another form the logic of force that it once criticized.

"It is returning to its origins, to its project that questions not only the dialogue with Serbia, the Brussels Agreement, but also the very nature of Kosovo's legal system, the Ahtisaari Package. And the only way to dismantle some of its elements is to cause a constitutional crisis. This is the only explanation why a party insists on barricading itself in this way, because a party that would like to govern would find ways to cooperate with at least one of the other major parties," says Maliqi.

Maliqi, also mentioning Vetëvendosje's attacks on independent institutions, such as the Constitutional Court, assesses that Kurti's goal is to create new legal realities through crises.

Radio Free Europe sought comments from the Vetëvendosje Movement on this topic, but without success.

Meanwhile, at the party's General Council meeting in September, Kurti himself declared that Kosovo needs "a third republic."

"We have said several times that Kosovo needs a third republic, but not as a republic proclaimed in its Assembly of 120 deputies, so not as a new republic, but as a rejuvenated republic, as a renewed republic, which breathes according to the progressive ideals of the Albanian renaissance people," Kurti said.

At the same meeting, he emphasized that the blockades and obstacles come not only from opposing parties, but also from delays by the Constitutional Court, which has 18 laws awaiting a decision.

According to him, this situation hinders the country's development and limits the functioning of democracy, while demonstrating Vetëvendosje's effort to advance its agenda even in difficult conditions.

Kurti's government, over the years, has found itself in reports by the US State Department for government corruption or by Reporters Without Borders for restricting media freedom.

But unemployment has been on a downward trend since 2021 and economic growth has been brought below 4 percent. Wages and pensions have increased, as have foreign direct investment.

And what has most characterized Kurti's government has been his attempt to extend Kosovo's authority to the north of the country, through actions such as abolishing the Serbian dinar and closing down Serbian institutions. These measures, while in line with his vision of a sovereign Kosovo, have caused tensions with the EU and the US.

Visari Ymeri, one of the senior figures of Vetëvendosje who has defected from the party over the years, says that political and social polarization is a conscious strategy of Vetëvendosje.

According to him, although the party claims to be open to cooperation, in practice it thrives on clashes with others - a phenomenon that Ymeri considers new to Kosovo's post-war political scene.

"With other political parties, which we have had in the past, of course there has been opposition, often very heated, even hostility... but there has been no 'us and them' logic. They have seen the state-building process in Kosovo as cooperation. And this cooperation has resulted, then, in increased social cohesion - that is, in the depolarization of society," says Ymeri.

Ymeri emphasizes that getting out of the current situation requires awareness among all parties that cooperation and compromise are the essence of politics, especially in times of crisis.

"To save democracy, a joining of forces is needed, even among those who disagree," he says, adding that he would not want the solution to come through the intervention of the international community.

"I think that Kosovar society needs to mature to solve its own problems, and this is one of the problems we have today. I see little value in this impasse in this regard. I don't know if it will have this result, but impasses are sometimes good, because they teach societies about another necessity, which they don't see without having the problem," says Ymeri.

Even comments on social networks and television debates give the appearance of a deep division in society, but a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in the period May-July of this year, highlighted that only 38 percent of Kosovo citizens see a change in the main leaders and ruling parties as necessary.

Whether the country will go to new elections this year is not yet clear, but Vetëvendosje, although 'surrounded by opponents' according to it, remains for now the one that determines the field and pace of the game. /REL/

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