To offer support to this party, led by current Prime Minister Albin Kurti, he travelled from Switzerland to Kosovo and voted in the February 9th parliamentary elections.
The Vetevendosje movement has a social agenda for the protection of mothers, women, youth and pensioners. It supports a market economy with social elements and fights corruption”, he tells Free Europe Radio.
Gashi, who now lives in a town in Bernton, says he has found himself in this party's programme, even in the fact that he himself leads a union that contributes to the rights of young women and immigrants.
In Vetevendosje's goals, says you see a “state offering quality services to its citizens whether in health, education or administration”.
“Vetevendosje has established Kosovo in the political agenda, not as a state that accepts orders from above, but as an equal partner on the table”, Gashi says.
For me it is important that when I come to Kosovo, I be waited at the border as a man, not be robbed. These things make me feel good, because you see improvement”, says former Vetevendosje supporter.
For the February 9th regular parliamentary elections, an estimated 105 thousand Kosovo voters were registered in the diaspora, of whom some 80,000 others voted in diplomatic representation, some by mail.
By counting most of the votes from the diaspora, the Central Election Commission indicated that the Vetevendosje Movement is convincingly leading, against the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Democratic League of Kosovo and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo.
Similarly in the first four years of elections, Vetevendosje secured over 80 percent of the diaspora vote.
This party's voter, even then, was Izet Dushi, who has lived in Halmstad, Sweden for years.
The 80-year-old pensioner says he has voted by mail, prompted by “the uncorrupted government of Kurtit” and its “politiks”.
He cites the Kurti Government's support for students, salary and pension increases, as well as additions for children”, but says it particularly appreciates efforts to extend authority in northern Kosovo ʹ the Serb-run area.
“A is better than moving freely to that area”, says Dushi, who is currently on vacation in Kosovo.
“The most organised Vetevendosje”
Freedom Krasniqi, from the Germin organisation in Kosovo, which deals mainly with diaspora issues, says the Vetevendosje Movement has been more committed to the exile during the pre-election campaign.
According to him, she has held more meetings with him, compared to other parties, and there are more representatives in countries where the diaspora is concentrated.
“Diaspora usually votes on topics of national importance, such as foreign policy, dialogue with Serbia, security and the military. On these issues, the Vetevendosje Movement has been much more vocal than other parties”, Krasniqi tells Radio Free Europe.
He recalls that this party, last summer, has also launched an investment project by the diaspora, which, he says, may have served as a boost to its post-vendosje alignment.
Moreover, diaspora voting in embassies or consulates of the countries where they live was first defeated in the February 9th elections, he recalls.
But sociologist Artan Mujariri is among the most critical of the diaspora vote.
He emphasises that in Kosovo's economic and developmental terms, it is of great importance, but adds that not all its members may be well informed of domestic developments in the country.
The “Someone who has gone to the last five or ten years can vote because it has the potential to return to Kosovo. But if someone's been 2030 years old and integrated there, I think it's not entirely right to vote on a political system that doesn't affect”, Muhramir says of Radio Free Europe.
Gashi, who has spent most of his life in Switzerland, finds this absurd.
According to him, the Kosovo diaspora has close ties to the country of origin and has the right to express its opinion on political developments in Kosovo.
Which party leads the state is second-hand. I don't give the vote that I like the party, but that works”, he says.
Like many others, Gashi says he has been sending money to family members in Kosovo for years, which for some citizens constitute the main income.
Central Bank of Kosovo data shows that in January (January) last year, Kosovo has accepted remittances worth over one billion euros, while in 2023 that amount was more than 1.2 billion euros.
For seven years, meanwhile, between 2017 and 2023, the value of remittances has reached over 6.9 billion euros.
Many business leaders name these revenues “fusion” for the Kosovo economy.
In addition, the diaspora also invests in real estate in Kosovo, while spending significant amounts of money even during holidays.
According to the CEC, the overall value of foreign direct investment, including those of the diaspora in real estate, has reached about 700m euros in the January-September period of 2024, while in 1923 it was 732m euros.
During the population census last year, Kosovo's Statistics Agency has indicated that over 550 thousand Kosovars are registered in different states of the world. The largest number of them are concentrated in Germany.
Otherwise, the Central Election Commission is expected to make the certificate of the outcome of the February 9th elections in mid-month.
Of the preliminary results, no party has secured enough votes to form the government alone. Vetevendosje leads by about 40%, PDK with about 22%, The LDK by about 17% and the AAK-Nisma coalition by about 7%.
Analysts do not rule out the possibility of Vetevendosje providing at least one MP from diaspora votes.
The party-led government in the past four years has also faced criticism, especially from the international community, due to some actions it has considered uncoordinated in northern Kosovo.
Kurt's government has also found itself in reports of US State Department for government corruption, or Reporters without Borders on restricting media freedom. /Radio Europe Free
