NDI Kosovo Public Opinion Research 2017

NDI conducts public opinion research in Kosovo to ascertain public sentiment on important issues and to share public priorities and views as registered in the research with government, political, and civic leaders. Over the course of 2017, NDI conducted two rounds of research, both polls and focus groups, and in this publication are salient findings. Public sentiment in Kosovo is restive. Citizens desire reforms that will foster social cohesion, economic opportunity, and the rule of law. Tackling corruption cuts across all of these areas and remains at the forefront of citizen priorities. While mindful of external factors shaping Kosovo's prospects for good or for ill—Euroatlantic integration, foreign investment, Russian influence, violent extremism salient among them—citizens train their focus on domestic institutions. Government corruption and partisan conflict continue to drive public political disaffection and a sense among citizens of stagnation. Kosovo's two elections in 2017—parliamentary and municipal—did not significantly re-order political power, nor raise public expectations for change. Kosovars depart 2017 as they entered it: questioning the leadership and integrity of the governing class.