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REL: What's happening in Albin Kurti's party!

2025-08-31 15:14:09Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
REL: What's happening in Albin Kurti's party!
Albin Kurti

Two decades after its founding, the Vetëvendosje Movement appears to be experiencing another political shake-up, with "rebellious" members, as analysts note.

From an independent opposition movement, which began with strong protests against political compromise and international interference, it transformed into the largest party in Kosovo.

But today, at the height of its power, it faces internal and external challenges: criticism of its style of governance, dilemmas over relations with international allies, and, finally, signals of discord within its structures.

The party itself did not respond to Radio Free Europe's request for comment on the divisions among its members.

And, they became apparent earlier this week, when the Minister of Environment, Liburn Aliu, from Vetëvendosje, resigned, following the election of his party colleague, Dimal Basha, as head of the Kosovo Assembly.

"I consider that the election of the Speaker of the Assembly - the highest institution, where laws are made and the Government is held accountable - is not in the spirit and at the height of that ideal for the Republic that has been and remains a reason for my commitment," said Aliu.

Liburn Aliu, one of the founders of the Vetëvendosje Movement, recently resigned as Minister of Environment, seen next to Vetëvendosje leader Albin Kurti, during an event in 2023.
Basha responded by saying only that he "appreciates his contribution as an activist in the Vetëvendosje Movement", but also his work as a minister.

He said that the dissatisfactions are "natural."

Similarly, the leader of Vetëvendosje, Albin Kurti, briefly said that he "thanks former minister Liburn Aliu for his contribution."

Despite efforts, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was unable to contact Ali.

Basha – just a trigger for Ali's "rebellion"

Political experts believe that Basha's election as speaker of parliament has only served as a pretext for the resignation of one of the founders of Vetëvendosje from his ministerial position.

According to them, there may be other reasons behind this decision that Aliu has not made public.

Rrahman Paçarizi, a professor at the Department of Journalism at the University of Pristina, believes that his resignation reflects disagreement with the party's policies, which have pushed him "towards rebellion."

"... but, this was not the fundamental reason; simply, the moment when the cup was full and could no longer hold," Paçarizi tells Radio Free Europe.

Even analyst Imer Mushkolaj, referring to sources within Vetëvendosje, says that Ali's resignation is not only related to Basha's election, but also to his reservations about some of the party's decisions and directions.

"It is an expression of dissatisfaction with the way Vetëvendosje has operated in government so far, even though Mr. Aliu has also been part of the government," Mushkolaj tells Radio Free Europe.

He explains that the dissatisfaction may be related to Kurti's departure from the ideology and principles with which he built Vetëvendosje, as well as to the unfulfilled promises made during his time in power.

Since coming to government in early 2020 and then in 2021, Mushkolaj says the party has set aside narratives about unification with Albania, has not undertaken an uncompromising fight against corruption, and has not treated dialogue with Serbia as a low priority, although it had promised these earlier.

"These are no longer mentioned as conditions or as principles for moving forward. Therefore, I consider that dissatisfaction with these issues, although they can be mitigated by being in power, cannot be completely avoided," says Mushkolaj.

He also recalls that Aliu did not participate in the internal Vetëvendosje elections in 2022 and was not even on the list of deputies for the parliamentary elections of February 9, even though Aliu had stated that it was his personal decision not to participate.

Departures of former leaders

This is not the first time that the Vetëvendosje Movement has faced high-level defections.

In 2018, it faced a tense period of political turmoil and internal conflicts that shook its leadership structures.

The conflicts culminated in the resignation of several of the party's key figures, including former chairman Visar Ymeri, former organizational secretary Dardan Molliqaj, deputy chairman Dardan Sejdiu, as well as other officials: Shpend Ahmeti, Ilir Deda, Frashër Krasniqi, Belgzim Kamberi and Aida Dërguti.

Most of them later created the Social Democratic Party, although some of them later left this party as well.

Radio Free Europe attempted to contact some of them to get comment on developments within Vetëvendosje then and now.

Ymeri, Ahmeti and Sejdiu were not accessible, while Derguti did not express a willingness to comment.

Kamberi, a former member of the Vetëvendosje Movement Presidency, tells Radio Free Europe that the resignation of Aliu - one of Kurti's earliest and closest associates - is not common.

"It's not the same when relationships break down with someone like Liburn Aliu, as with another MP or activist... Liburni has been and remains an important person for the Vetëvendosje Movement, for its history," he says.

"Kurti decides everything"

Kamberi adds that the party has 'pro forma', or formal, mechanisms for managing disagreements, to enable members and leadership structures to express them and to give an appearance that debates are being addressed.

However, he points out, the real discussions within the party are kept away from the public eye.

"What usually happens is that when the leader [Kurti] sees his personal popularity, but also that of Vetëvendosje, threatened by some internal conflict or disagreement, then different strategies can be undertaken. As we have seen, demonizing, for example, people who disagree," says Kamberi.

Paçarizi estimates that, currently, there is no risk that any internal reaction will threaten the functioning of the party or the position of its leader, Albin Kurti.

"This political group is a 'one man show', where everything is decided by Mr. Kurti," says Paçarizi.

"Anyone [from Vetëvendosje] who opposes Mr. Kurti goes to the political margins of Kosovo and slowly becomes irrelevant, in terms of political activity within any political party," he adds.

How might the electorate react?

Kurti first became prime minister in February 2020, but his government quickly collapsed, becoming short-lived after the war in Kosovo.

Conflicts over the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the dialogue with Serbia escalated to the no-confidence motion filed by the Democratic League of Kosovo on March 25 of that year, which led to the collapse of the Government.

Less than a year later, in February 2021, early parliamentary elections were held, where the Vetëvendosje Movement managed to secure over 50 percent of the vote, regaining governing power with a strong popular mandate.

Vetëvendosje also came first in the last elections, on February 9, although with a smaller percentage of the vote: 42.3%.

Mushkolaj estimates that, for now, Vetëvendosje is expected to be cautious towards its electorate.

"Tensions or disagreements within the Vetëvendosje Movement still exist. They may be growing, but I believe that even a Vetëvendosje mandate in power – with Prime Minister Kurti – will more or less manage not to extinguish the tensions, but to keep them quiet until a later moment," he says.

Even according to Paçariz, this Vetevendosje electorate "believes in Kurti".

"They are voters who are 'believers'... [Kurti] is a kind of spiritual leader of that group of people, who vote for him without needing explanations or justifications as to why they should vote for him. They are simply convinced that they should vote for him and they vote for him," says Paçarizi.

Kurti has been acting prime minister for months, as the Kosovo Assembly, which would pave the way for the formation of the new Government, has not yet been fully constituted.

Over the last four years, his government has found itself in reports from the US State Department on government corruption, or from Reporters Without Borders on restrictions on media freedom.

But what has most profoundly defined the governance of the Vetëvendosje leader has been his determination to expand Kosovo's authority in the north of the country, where the majority population is Serb and, for years, has not obeyed the decisions of official Pristina.

The decisions to install Albanian mayors in Serb-majority municipalities, to replace Serbian car license plates, to remove the Serbian dinar from use, and to close most Serbian institutions, although essential to Kurti's vision of a sovereign and united Kosovo, have had a high cost on international alliances.

Rarely in public, EU and US officials have sharply criticized his government, describing its actions as uncoordinated./ REL


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