Kosova Democratic Institute (KDI) has conducted the second poll with young voters aged 18 to 22 in regards to their political behavior, attitudes, and preferences. Today at a press conference, main findings of this poll were published, confirming that youth problems remain the same as on previous and not addressed.
On this occasion, Ahmet Rushiti from KDI, has stated that, this year 61.5% of young people think that the country is going in wrong direction.
“An important part of this poll was asking young people about their concerns and young people have been asked to list their 5 major concerns they are facing. From the results that we have obtained, it shows that the issues that young people face are not addressed by institutions in Kosovo, both at central and local level. Unemployment with 68.7%, visa liberalization with 61.9%, health issues with 57.1%, fighting corruption with 50.2% and economic development with 45% represent the main concerns that Kosovo youth have stressed” he also added.
Mr. Rushiti pointed out that through this poll young people were asked to give a name of a person that to them is a “Role-Model” politician. Around 25.2% of respondents who said they do not have any role-model politicians. “13.7% of young people interviewed have stated that Albin Kurti is a role-model politician for them, followed by Ramush Haradinaj with 7.8%, Vjosa Osmani with 7.4%, Shpend Ahmeti with 7.3%, Hashim Thaci with 7% and Kadri Veseli with 5.8%. There are some other personalities that young people have declared, but in a smaller percentage, “he said.
Young people have been asked to answer the questions if they would vote on parliamentary elections if there were one to be held tomorrow. 62.6% of young people said they would take part in the elections. As for who would they vote for the parliamentary elections, according to the poll results: 27.1% would vote LVV, 19% PDK, 18.1% LDK, 11% AAK, 2.7% NISMA, Srpska Lista 1.4%, Alenaca Kosova e Re 1.2%, Alternativa 0.3%, and other parties 1.5%, meanwhile refused to answer 17.7%.
Eugen Cakolli from KDI, said that respondents were asked in regards to the work and performance of the Kosovo Government. He stated, that based on poll findings the Kosovo Governments’ work is rated as weak and inefficient by almost 70% of young people surveyed, while the rest consider that the government is unjustly criticized, despite good work. “71.9% of respondents see the Government as representing the interests of a small group of people, while 28.1% estimate that the Government works in the general interest of the citizen,” he added.
Mr. Cakolli has noted that the poll findings are worrying that only about 15% of the respondents stated they had communication with a politician or have participated in any debate with political party officials.
It was also pointed out that the reasons why young people have joined or would join political parties, 54.9% of respondents see membership in political parties as opportunity for easier employment.
The questionnaire contained around 50 questions, while the final report and the comparison with the previous year will be published in February of next year.
The main findings of this research can be found on this link.