As Vjosa Osmani gets ready to vacate the presidential office this weekend, her political ambitions are clear – but whether she can realise them is less certain.
Perparim Isufi
“I told you that I can’t speak until April 4, but this doesn’t mean you can’t speak.”
A short video reel from March 22 circulating online from a bar in Lupc i Poshtem, a village in the northeastern municipality of Podujeve/Podujevo, shows Kosovo’s outgoing President, Vjosa Osmani, having a chat with a group of locals, joking and laughing.
In recent weeks, Osmani and her staff have released many such clips of random meetings with people from all over Kosovo who, in almost all of the videos, hail the work that she has done during her five-year term as head of state.
This term, however, ends on Saturday, April 4, when the 43-year-old head of state has to vacate her office – with no successor yet on the horizon. In line with the constitution, parliament speaker Albulena Haxhiu, from the governing Vetevendosje party, is to take over the presidency for the next six months if MPs fail to vote a new head of state into office in the meantime.
