After months of bickering and merging, VLEN is consolidating into a single political entity and has gone straight out into the field. Co-leaders Izet Mexhiti and Bilal Kasami kicked off the field caravan with a visit to Debar, where they toured ongoing projects and infrastructure.

The first stop is no accident. Debar, with a mayor from the coalition's ranks, is a place where the party wants to show concrete results - projects on the ground, rather than statements from conference halls. The message is clear: VLEN is no longer a loose alliance but a single entity building its own identity in front of the voters.

But field caravans are a well-known political tool in the Balkans. When parties go "among the people", it usually means elections are near or they want to take their own pulse. The question for the voter is whether the visits will bring water, roads and jobs to Debar and other places - or just photos of the co-leaders standing in front of unfinished projects.

Until then, VLEN is playing it safe: starting where it has something to show. The real test will be when the caravan reaches the places where projects are running late, the promises sit on paper, and people have been waiting longer than any election cycle has lasted.