The VLEN coalition has issued a sharp statement against DUI, accusing the party of years-long protection of what they call the „urban mafia" in Tetovo. It is a political language that becomes visible ahead of local elections - but the specific examples they cite deserve scrutiny, not dismissal.

According to VLEN, with the arrival of Bilal Kasami as mayor of Tetovo, „order and law" have returned to the city. The municipality inherited a debt of roughly 24 million euros, and the current administration - according to them - is simultaneously reducing the debt and delivering infrastructure projects. This is a claim that is easy to check, and it should be checked by independent auditors, not by political opponents.

The specific projects VLEN lists: the city stadium (finally being built after years of delay), new streets and boulevards, two new high schools, sports halls, swimming pools, and work on the water supply and sewage network. Some of these projects - the stadium above all - were blocked for years over property disputes and the usurpation of public land. VLEN attributes this to DUI, which held Tetovo for a long time.

This kind of political rhetoric has two layers. The first - party promotion before the electorate: „look at what we have done in less than three years". The second - a real ethnic-political tension between the two Albanian parties for votes in Tetovo, Gostivar and several other western Macedonian municipalities. DUI has dominated the Albanian bloc for more than 20 years. VLEN is the first serious challenge to that dominance.

The question for readers who live in Tetovo (or are thinking about where to vote): are the infrastructure projects that VLEN is publicising actually finished, partly finished, or started only for the sake of election optics? The stadium is still not in operation. The two new high schools - when will they enrol their first pupils? These factual questions are the answer to party rhetoric, not more rhetoric from the other side.

DUI will not stay silent. Their response is coming - usually with accusations of corruption, bad governance, or VLEN's own internal party conflicts (VLEN is a coalition of the Alliance for Albanians, Alternative, Besa and the Left Democratic League). Balkan politics always has two scenarios: either VLEN will charge into the next elections with momentum, or it will fall apart from within before that happens. One or the other.