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Comment: What’s there to be elected?

09 11 2007  A popular TV show reveals that Kosovo’s politicians have little to offer their electorate either in terms of policies or personalities.

By Mufail Limani in Pristina

One of the novelties of this election campaign in the media is, no doubt, Jeta Xharra’s TV show. Xharra, who is BIRN’s Kosovo Director, presents a regular weekly debate, “Life in Kosovo”, which allows the audience to put questions to a panel of politicians and experts.

Regardless of what one may think of that kind of journalism, Jeta has managed to ‘unmask the enemy’, which may be called the complete discrediting of the candidates in public.

The impression created by these debates (staged by Xharra) is that all her guests (the election candidates) are either greedy, or they do not know what they want from the campaign. The most frequent comment prompted by this political show is: “I like what she is doing to them!”

Maybe that is true, but the candidates are a topic that is worth thinking about twice. It would be good if the top leaders spared us having to put up with such clowns and backscratchers, but the candidates selected appear to represent their parties’ genuine political offer. It cannot be fair and normal for the big bosses to continue treating the people with such ignorance, and making one think that a donkey can become a senator, if the party decides so.

The candidates should not continue viewing the election campaign as simply a chance to appear on TV. Many candidates, who were on Xharra’s show, realise that it would have been better if they had not appeared at all.

However, let us leave aside the fact that the media, even our televisions, are much more aggressive towards the candidates now. After all, even the most aggressive newspapers, such as Bota Sot, are open to all political parties. This implies that the media and the public are mature.

But what do the parties offer? The biggest novelty of this campaign is, of course, Behgjet Pacolli’s AKR – Alliance New Kosovo. What does Pacolli, who made a fortune from a Swiss-based construction company, offer and what is his aim? His social demagogy targets the most vulnerable and disappointed levels of Kosovar society. That could be 40% of the general population and 20% of the electorate.

But it is not only the poor people who hope Pacolli would help them. There are many people disappointed with the main parties. These include the senior partner in the governing coalition, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK; its splinter group, the Democratic League of Dardania, LDD; the main opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK; and the junior partner in the government, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK.

The alternative of the reformist opposition party, ORA (Hour) has not impressed them. Now, with Pacolli’s AKR, they have a new address to turn to when seeking revenge on the established parties.

However, I cannot believe that Kosovars would go after an idea that involves Kazakhstan as a way out of the kind of life we have here – just because Pacolli has had major business deals in that central Asian country. Our one and only realistic exit is on the other side of the globe – integration into the EU. The Kosovo emigrants who have gone to the West to make money, have returned and keep returning not only better-off, but also bringing cultural values.

I want to say that political correctness at the elections should be limited to the protecting the idea for democracy and what may be called the national interest. So, is the AKR a project that presents an election offer which is within the framework of the fight for democratic and national values? It is not for a columnist to answer this question, but the entire political spectrum in Kosovo should attempt to do that.

In addition to the AKR, another novelty in this election offer is the bizarre situation that Ibrahim Rugova – who led the Kosovo Albanians and the LDK for many years - although now dead, may “win” against opponents who are in and outside the LDK. But even if his close political associates in the LDK, including his successor as Kosovo’s President, Fatmir Sejdiu, as well as Sabri Hamiti and Eqrem Kryeziu win as many votes as they expect, they should not celebrate. That success for the Rugova line in the LDK would be a personal loss for them – a proof that they do not stand for anything as politicians in their own right.

We have an LDD in this campaign, which offers us a ‘reformed’ Nexhat Daci – the former speaker of Kosovo’s Assembly who lost out to Sejdiu in the contest to succeed Rugova. Daci does not have viewpoints, but anything he says, and does, triggers reactions.

We see a Veton Surroi – a publisher and editor representing our ‘urban’ ideals and illusions - promoting himself as an ideal minister of agriculture after a tour of remote rural areas. But no one can convince anyone that ORA is a party for village electorate.

We see also a Hashim Thaci, head of the PDK, which is the political successor to the wartime guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army, in every street and with the PDK campaign focused on his personality, making the most pointless election phrase “be proud of Kosovo.”

We also have an AAK trying to survive on the political stage, and cross the threshold required to get into parliament. It is no longer a serious party that supplied three successive prime ministers – Ramush Haradinaj, Bajram Kosumi and the current holder of the post, Agim Ceku, but as a club of Haradinaj fans.

My impression is that this is something of an arranged election race, therefore, we do not see the players running in the field in a bid to win any points for what they can offer on any topic or detail. Maybe the parties all expect a repetition of the results of the last elections with which they would be happy. But it is the thieves who know most clearly if a house is empty so they can break into it without any problem. Is anybody in there?

Mufail Limani is website editor of Kosovo’s public TV, RTK. Balkan Insight is BIRN’s online publication.