Houston, Texas/
On the eve of the parliamentary elections, Kosovo is experiencing one of the harshest, noisiest, and most disheartening campaigns of the postwar period. Three days before the vote, political discourse has sunk into a vortex of verbal violence, slander, blackmail, and empty promises, pushing citizens ever further away from the belief that politics is a tool for improving their lives.
Instead of a competition of ideas, programs, and concrete visions for economic development, social justice, and state-building, political parties have plunged into a witch hunt, where accusations of “treason,” “collaboration with Serbia,” and “espionage” have become electoral currency. Serbia remains at the center of the campaign not as a state challenge requiring wise strategy and political unity, but as a weapon for mutual blackmail, in the hope that fear mobilizes more effectively than reason.
Amid this controlled noise, citizens forget—or are deliberately pushed to forget—the fact that these same parties left Kosovo without a functional government for nearly ten months. And the risk that this scenario will be repeated is real.
The problem lies not only with the parties, but also with the electoral system. Kosovo, as a single electoral district, deprives citizens of genuine representation. Candidates unknown to entire communities secure mandates in areas with which they have no social, cultural, or economic ties. Deputies who come from modest backgrounds display staggering wealth within a few months, without any convincing transparency.
There are deputies who, after the elections, no longer visit their hometowns, but live between Pristina and European capitals, giving the impression that they are disconnected from the reality of the citizens who voted for them. This is not representation—this is the appropriation of power.
Past governments, without exception, have had officials accused of corruption. Ironically, each of them declared a war on corruption, while in practice it only deepened. The great hope that the Vetëvendosje Movement would bring stability and radical change quickly faded. Instead of deep reform, polarization increased, hate speech intensified, and an exclusionary culture emerged that treated criticism as hostility.
The PDK and the LDK, each in their respective periods, did not show sufficient courage to genuinely break away from corruption and clientelism. AAK and NISMA, although with less weight, failed to offer a convincing systemic alternative.
Nevertheless, it is important to state clearly: no party is monolithic. Within each there are honest, professional, and dedicated individuals who would deserve the citizens’ vote.
The problem is that the current system makes it impossible to freely vote for a preferred individual beyond party boundaries.
Another illness of our political scene is the extreme personalization of power. Movements that function more as projects of a single leader than as democratic institutions endanger parliamentary democracy itself. In functional states, the leader has limited importance; decisions are made in parliament through debate, compromise, and a free vote.
When a party becomes synonymous with a single name, dissent is suppressed and criticism is excluded. This is not reform—it is regression.
And yet, despite the failures of political parties, Kosovo does not fail. The state will continue to exist, because for the first time it clearly finds itself in the same hemisphere of interests as its strategic allies, especially the United States of America.
This is a historic opportunity that should not be squandered by small, day-to-day politics.
Elections should not be a victory for one party, but a victory for the citizens. The next government, whoever it may be, must be equal toward all municipalities and citizens, without partisan distinctions.
In the end, the greatest responsibility rests with voters in Kosovo and in the diaspora: to vote with a clear mind, not with fear, not with hatred, but with the hope that their vote will not be stolen or misused.
Democracy is not perfect, but it is stronger when citizens do not give up.
May the elections of 28 December 2025 be a step toward a fairer, more representative, and more dignified Kosovo—a democratic and functional state.
