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Kosova

Parliamentary elections on Sunday in Kosovo, over 100 thousand young people vote for the first time

Politiko 2025-02-07 09:53:37

Parliamentary elections on Sunday in Kosovo, over 100 thousand young people vote

In Kosovo, there hasn't been an election campaign for a whole month in a long time. That's why it's been hard to avoid discussions about it. The parliamentary elections of February 9 have been discussed in television studios, at tables among friends and colleagues in cafes, in families. Everywhere. Let's not talk about social networks.

Even when political party video clips have not been paid for, a multitude of websites have excerpted parts of the speeches of the candidates for prime minister, whether to make jokes, criticize, or start a debate about how feasible all those promises are.

What we have noticed, as have several non-governmental organizations monitoring the campaign and the elections, is that the promises have been made mainly in the economic sector. In this regard, the promises have been quite generous.

Some of them mention helping local producers and focusing on their grievances, including high value-added tax, the informal economy, high interest rates on loans, lack of infrastructure, unstable electricity supply, etc. Every year, Kosovo imports goods worth an average of 5 billion euros, while exporting less than 1 billion euros.

As recently as New Year's Eve, we heard about power outages, or saw people celebrating with candles on their tables, despite the lack of electricity. But political parties have promised that those days will be forgotten.

Among their promises are the production of electricity through gas, or even the construction of a new coal-fired power plant. Watch this video to understand what was promised in the campaign, what experts say, and how feasible all these ideas are.

While there has been much talk and discussion about the economy and the energy sector, other major, important and inevitable issues, such as access to dialogue with Serbia, or whether the Association of Serb-majority municipalities should be formed, the candidates for prime minister Albin Kurti of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Bedri Hamza of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku of the Democratic League of Kosovo and Ramush Haradinaj of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo have been silent.

Other members of their parties, in addition to the ruling Vetëvendosje Movement, have openly stated that the Association should be formed, but only in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo. The campaign did not address other topics of importance to citizens, such as the Civil Code, the Law on Reproductive Health and Medically Assisted Fertilization (IVF), or the wearing of the headscarf in schools. Representatives of the LDK and AAK have accepted the invitation.

We have noticed that domestic violence was not even mentioned in the campaign, despite the fact that the figures are increasing year by year. Kosovo Police data for 2024 show that the number of reported cases of domestic violence has increased compared to 2023. Despite the editorial team's efforts, political representatives have not stated to REL what they will do to combat domestic violence. According to experts in the field, their work in the election programs to address this problem is not commendable either.

From what we have seen throughout the campaign, the focus on education has been relatively weak, despite the fact that the quality of education in Kosovo remains poor. In three PISA tests, the international program for assessing students in reading, science and mathematics in 2015, 2018 and 2022, Kosovo has come out near the bottom of the world list. Still, political parties have not gone beyond traditional methods in their promises amid the technological boom. Environmental issues have received similar attention, despite Kosovo suffering from high levels of air pollution, and beyond.

Among the most interesting materials we worked on during the campaign days was with young people. It was very important for us to hear how they see the situation in Kosovo, what they like, what they don't, what needs to be changed, what is being done well... In the February 9 elections, over 100,000 young people will vote for the first time./ REL