One of the most important measures of the nature of party-based democracy is public attachment to political parties (R. J. Dalton, 2000). The processes of political modernization often lead to changes in the citizen’s relationship to politics. So, the main issue analyzed is whether partisanship is generally changing in contemporary democracies, especially in Kosovo, a young state who had its last elections on the 14th of February 2021. Party identification binds individuals to their preferred political party, as well as the system of party democracy. Party identification also helps to orient the individual to the complexities of politics and provide a framework for assimilating political information, understanding political issues, making political judgments, mobilizing people on participating in parties and elections. However, even why it has these effects, we can’t escape partisan dealignment and this was linked to exceptional political crises and this kind of trend appeared in party systems. The dealignment thesis argues that this trend has developed because of a combination of individual and systemic factors. The increase of educational levels and the growth of mass media, non-governmental organizations, provide people with more information about the political world and resources to become self-sufficient in politics.
In the case of the 2021 elections in Kosovo, these might not be the only reasons, we can add to this fact the variables of failure from the past governments, corruption, nepotism, the fall of the 2019 government during the pandemic. Dalton’s study in 2000, proves that party identifications are weakening in most democracies. We can find out that the citizenry is changing and as a result, political parties are not developing new attachments among the youngsters and the new non-partisans are drawn from the better educated and the politically sophisticated. Comparing 2021 elections, with all the other elections in Kosovo, we can see ups and downs in percentage for some parties, this is just a fact that voters seem to be “cold” in front of the voting box, they urge for change. Also, a big role is played by the policy performance who declines partisanship. However, it also has its consequences, one of the most obvious is the impact on electoral behavior. Partisanship provides a standing predisposition that guides voter’s preferences, partisans vote for “their” party in the belief that the party and its candidates generally best represent their interest. With partisanship beginning to erode then volatility increased, new parties were formed, and also new political challenges entered the scene. An increasing tendency for voters to report that they shifted votes between elections, especially in nations where the declines in partisan attachments have been greater, the reported willingness of voters to shift votes between elections increased in every nation. There was an obvious rise of splitting the ballots (split-ticketvoting) between a presidential candidate of one party and a congressional candidate of another, however, this also depends on the electoral and political system countries have. In the case of Kosovo the timing of one’s voting decision varies, voters with partisan identities enter election campaigns with standing partisan predispositions; however, with time voters were less likely to enter elections with standing partisan predispositions. Another fact of this change can be added to some municipalities that have been known from the past elections as a bulwark for an X or Y political party. As partisanship in the electorate has weakened, voters have to substitute other factors in their decision-making process (R. J. Dalton, 2000). One of the factors is candidate-centered politics, even why this is more obvious in the presidential systems than in the parliamentary system. However, in the parliamentary systems, the correlation between candidate preference and vote has risen over time but we can say that it had a major effect in Kosovo. Partisan dealignment might also affect citizen involvement in election campaigns, however, the political interest generally increased in the western democracies, but, we can notice a general decrease in campaign activity participation (let’s add COVID-19 here). Dealignment has weakened the partisan ties of the contemporary public and this is having corresponding effects on patterns of political behavior. Fewer voters go to elections with standing partisan predispositions, so we can say that the loyalties are weaker. However, this is not a study that we can trust because there was not used methodology except my thoughts. In the future, we should look closely at elections in Kosovo and confirm if there is a change in partisanship or not; if the voters are going to “punish” anyone who does not reach the expectations and to vote rationally rather than emotionally.
The citizens of Kosovo should be critical of possible irregularities of the incoming government, hold accountable the MPs who voted to represent them in the Assembly, at all times to say no to nepotism, and report any corruption possible. These elements, in modern times, create patriotic citizens and also raise the political culture in our country.
