In the final stretch of the campaign ahead of Kosovo’s local elections, acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has intensified his visits to the North. Within a week, he has officially toured the region twice.
During his first visit, Kurti briefly walked through North Mitrovica’s main promenade and stopped at an Albanian café. On Friday, despite rain and wind, he attended the foundation stone-laying ceremony for a new school and kindergarten in the northern part of the city, near the former Military Repair Factory.
Together with Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla, Kurti symbolically threw sand with a spade, while North Mitrovica’s incumbent mayor and Vetëvendosje’s candidate for re-election, Erden Atić, took up the shovel.
They were joined by other government ministers and by Faton Peci, the Vetëvendosje candidate for mayor of South Mitrovica.
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“They say you’ve blossomed since Albin came”
Before returning south, Kurti and his team visited the Zvecan municipality, including the village of Boljetin, where they endorsed Fetah Peci as Vetëvendosje’s mayoral candidate.
Speaking from the “Isa Boletin” Elementary School—where Ilir Peci of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) was sworn in as mayor nearly three years ago—Fetah Peci introduced his list of assembly candidates, noting that nearly all share the same surname.
“They criticize us for that, but what can we do—there are a lot of Peci here. They say we’ve blossomed since Albin came,” he said.
Kurti followed with a speech pledging equality and development for all residents of Zvecan.
“There will be better schools, investment in infrastructure, support for agriculture, healthcare and opportunities for everyone. There will never be second-class citizens here,” Kurti said, according to Koha.
“I know it hasn’t been easy for you—you’ve faced obstacles and risks, not only discrimination but also exclusion from public services and investments that belong to you. But I want to make it clear that the Government of Kosovo stands with you and will always support you,” he added.
“A breath for the North”
Later that day, the Vetëvendosje campaign moved to South Mitrovica, where Kurti voiced strong support for his party’s candidate there, Faton Peci.
“Mitrovica, as a center of knowledge, culture, education and sport, needs Faton Peci as its mayor,” Kurti wrote on Facebook. “Mitrovica must regain its dignity at the local level, and that is possible with the best Minister of Agriculture Kosovo has ever had.”
He also made a symbolic link between the two halves of the divided city:
“With Faton Peci leading South Mitrovica, the entire North will breathe differently,” Kurti declared.
Elections on 12 October
Kosovo’s local elections will be held on 12 October.
Vetëvendosje currently governs two municipalities in the North—Leposavic and North Mitrovica—where its candidates won in the extraordinary elections of 2023, which were boycotted by Serbs after they withdrew from Kosovo’s institutions at the end of 2022.
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