The First Political Regrouping

AIM Pristina, January 15, 2001

The results with which the local elections in Kosovo ended last autumn (for many unexpected), as well as the announcement that in the course of this year general elections will also take place, forced many political parties and political protagonists in Kosovo to reconsider their political positions and reflect on the possibilities of new regrouping, joining more powerful parties or creating alliances.

It is a fact, however, that the Democratic League of Kosovo (DSK) of Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, which has for ten years been on the top of the Albanian political scene, has no major reason for concern. The convincing victory won by this party in local elections, which many analysts wish to explain as the result of mistakes of other political forces and not as this party's merit, continued by inertia of inauguration of this party into an unquestioned political force. On the other hand, the party ranking second by the number of votes won, the party of the former leader of the political administration of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Hashim Thaci, seems to be tired of its very active autumn campaign and unexpected poor results. The same analysts might say that the membership of this party would like to "play the game" of Dr. Rugova, that is, to win next elections at the expense of failure of local officials in municipal assemblies...

The force ranking third by the number of votes won in local elections is the youngest political party, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, which is headed by another former leader of Albanian guerilla combatants, Ramush Haradinaj. On the surface, however, it seems that this party is preoccupied with itself. If for no other reason, because of numerous “movements” - joining and withdrawal from this Alliance which gathers a few political parties, mostly political opponents of Dr. Rugova from the time before the war in Kosovo. A few days ago, Naim Maljoku, president of the party called the Liberal Centre of Kosovo, publicly submitted resignation (which is unusual) to the leadership and the membership in his party and addressed at a press conference a public request to Mr. Haradinaj to receive him in his party, who according to the previous agreement bid him a welcome. This happened after Maljoku had failed to win support of his party for joining the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo where he met with strong opposition. Members of the presidency of this party who had invested a considerable material and moral capital in their party, considered the union of Maljoku and Haradinaj as an alliance against Hashim Thaci, who is claimed to be facing a crisis within his own party. Mr. Maljoku, one of the few people in the hierarchy of the former KLA who had publicly supported Mr. Rugova, during the autumn election campaign was the sharpest critic of the policy of the Democratic League of Kosovo, and at the same time his political platform was very close to that of the Democratic Party of Kosovo. For the manifested loyalty, Mr. Thaci's party generously "lent" to the party of the Liberal Centre of Kosovo the post of the co-chairman in the very significant department for security and emergency situations.

Faced with strong opposition of his associates, Mr. Maljoku publicly vented his rage on the man who had "just received him in his party", Ramush Haradinaj. As if "caught red-handed", he indirectly conveyed the stands of the presidency of his party - telling Mr. Hajradinaj "that he would make a mistake if he tried to use strengthening of the party in the struggle against his fellow combatants". Former high officer first of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and then of the former KLA Naim Maljoku, known for obstinacy and persistence, primarily had in mind warnings of his former associates about the danger of creating the Alliance against Hashim Thaci.

However, Mr. Maljoku's joining the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo seems to have revealed the restructuring of this political force. Due to different political and ideological orientations, leaders of the former KLA after the war in Kosovo have not managed to stay together.

Two small parties with radical orientation and long tradition of underground operation abandoned the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo. The National Movement for Liberation of Kosovo (LKCK) which claims that it had created the core of the KLA was the first to leave the Alliance. Discontent of this party started in the very beginning when none of the members of this party were elected in the leadership of the Alliance. The LKCK, therefore, demanded that its representative, not very well known to the public, be nominated for the post of the mayor of Pristina although there were much better known and stronger candidates from the DSK and DPK. Haradinaj was, however, placed before an accomplished fact...

The other party, the People's Movement of Kosovo, which is very similar to the first, immediately after withdrawal of LKCK (as believed one of its factions, but at the same time its rival), left the Alliance because it was ignored by the leaders of the Alliance, as its members stated. However, although this did not inflict great damage to Haradinaj's party, primarily because of the personal authority he has, the initial conception of the Alliance is considered as unsuccessful. In fact, it is generally believed that the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo was established under foreign influence, and it is already known that the creator of the political platform is the former leader of Kosovo from the time of communism, Mahmut Bakali. One of the objectives was to establish control over two political forces (which had just left the Alliance), that is to pull them out from the underground. It was believed that Haradinaj could achieve this with his authority and that it would be easy because at the time the "combatants" were still fashionable. The rebellion of the former allies from the Alliance does not seem to be significant for the representatives of the international community. At the moment there are two political forces in Kosovo that can endanger each other - the DSK and the DPK, although one should not disregard the Alliance of the Future of Kosovo either.

At the moment when it is believed that the Democratic Party of Hashim Thaci is somewhat weakened, although not the conception of this party which was adopted by the Alliance, some influential circles in Kosovo seem to be seriously considering the possibility of "fragmentation" of the Democratic League of Kosovo. Similarly as the Alliance was founded a short time before the local elections, establishment of another party is expected now, this time with a civic conception - which the local elections lacked and which is expected to gather high intellectuals, but also a part of the middle intellectuals in Kosovo in order to attract a part of the electorate which voted for the party of Ibrahim Rugova in the past elections. Persons that claim this are well informed about the initiative for foundation of a new political force which still has not been launched in public, but which is said to be "supported" by certain international circles. Initiators of the new political party count on this support. The name of Mahmut Bakali is mentioned again, because it is expected that the DSK will be forced to "pay the price of the victory in local elections" on its own. There are also those who keep saying that the local authorities of the DSK will have to face great problems (they probably mean the lack of money, uncooperativeness, and similar). They remind that the same formula was used in the case of political structures which resulted from the war and which had in their time founded the Interim Government of Kosovo (when they could not truly have power), either because of the completely destroyed infrastructure, or because of the presence of the international community, as they themselves have several times publicly claimed.

The most curious thing on the political scene of Kosovo is the Democratic Party of Kosovo in which no movements have been observed although it has practically lost the elections. What was believed to have been "tactical withdrawal" of Mr. Thaci who was away from Kosovo for more than a month (he visited the USA), on the one hand created space for speculations on the existing crisis in this party which is persistently denied by its officials, and on the other, as political opponents of Mr. Rugova stress, formed an even more reliable basis for him and his party in the forthcoming general elections.

Real results will greatly depend on the time when the elections will be scheduled, in other words whether the new regrouping on the political scene of Kosovo and possible establishment of new political parties will win support, whether their leaders will have something new and attractive to offer to the Kosovo electorate. The possible change of the election system is also in the focus of attention (a combination of the proportional and the majority system). This is certainly a challenge for those who think they can be better than their predecessors...

AIM Pristina

Rahman PACARIZI