# Visar Korenica

Visar Korenica (born 14 June 1984) is a politician in Kosovo. He has served in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo since 2021 as a member of Vetëvendosje (VV).

## Early life and career

Korenica was born to a Kosovo Albanian family in Prizren, in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He holds a master's degree in international business and is a manager in logistics.

## Politician

Korenica began his political career as a member of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR). He was the party's candidate for mayor of Rahovec in the 2007 Kosovan local elections and finished sixth. He later appeared in the eleventh position on the party's list for the Rahovec municipal assembly in the 2009 local elections. Assembly elections in Kosovo are held under open list proportional representation; Korenica finished fourteenth among the AKR's candidates and was not elected when the list won four seats He later joined Vetëvendosje and ran as its mayoral candidate in the 2017 local elections, finishing fourth.
He appeared in the eighty-third position on Vetëvendosje's electoral list in the 2019 Kosovan parliamentary election, finished in fifty-eighth place, and was not elected when the list won twenty-nine seats.

### Parliamentarian

Korenica received the seventy-ninth position on Vetëvendosje's list in the 2021 parliamentary election, finished in forty-fifth place among the list's candidates, and was elected when the list won fifty-eight seats. Vetëvendosje won the election and afterward became the leading force in the Republic of Kosovo's coalition government. Korenica is a supporter of the administration and serves on the committee for the oversight of public finances and the committee on budget, labour, and transfer.
In 2021, Korenica released the names of around thirty Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) employees whom he described as having family connections to officials from other political parties previously in power. He ran for mayor of Rahovec again in the 2021 local elections and was defeated in the second round of voting.
Korenica has clashed with Vetëvendosje's leadership on some occasions. He was removed as the party's coordinator for Rahovec in 2022 for voting against a new draft civil code.
On the fifth anniversary of Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanović's assassination by unknown parties in January 2023, Republic of Kosovo prime minister and Vetëvendosje leader Albin Kurti made respectful comments about Ivanović's time in public life. Korenica responded by dismissing Ivanović as a "criminal" and charging that Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić had ordered Ivanović's death for refusing to accept his leadership.

## Electoral record
### Local (Rahovec)

2021 Kosovan local elections: Mayor of Rahovec :
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | First round | First round | Second round | Second round |
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| | Smajl Latifi (incumbent) | Alliance for the Future of Kosovo | 10,144 | 47.18 | 11,575 | 65.19 |
| | Visar Korenica | Levizja Vetëvendosje! | 5,341 | 24.84 | 6,180 | 34.81 |
| | Burim Krasniqi | Democratic League of Kosovo | 3,424 | 15.92 | | |
| | Bejtullah Deliu | Democratic Party of Kosovo | 2,418 | 11.25 | | |
| | Xhafer Bytyqi | Xhafer Bytyqi | 174 | 0.81 | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 21,501 | 100.00 | 17,755 | 100.00 |
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2017 Kosovan local elections: Mayor of Rahovec :
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | First round | First round | Second round | Second round |
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| | Smajl Latifi | Alliance for the Future of Kosovo | 7,766 | 33.50 | 10,561 | 50.70 |
| | Idriz Vehapi (incumbent) | Democratic Party of Kosovo | 6,837 | 29.50 | 10,271 | 49.30 |
| | Ibrahim Kryeziu | Democratic League of Kosovo | 4,768 | 20.57 | | |
| | Visar Korenica | Levizja Vetëvendosje! | 3,513 | 15.16 | | |
| | Besnik Hoti | Initiative for Kosovo | 295 | 1.27 | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 23,179 | 100.00 | 20,832 | 100.00 |
| Source: |||||||
2007 Kosovan local elections: Mayor of Rahovec :
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | First round | First round | Second round | Second round |
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| | Qazim Qeska | Democratic Party of Kosovo | 6,527 | 35.87 | 8,919 | 61.06 |
| | Nahit Elshani | Democratic League of Kosovo | 4,082 | 22.43 | 5,689 | 38.94 |
| | Smajl Latifi | National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo | 3,718 | 20.43 | | |
| | Enver Sylka | Alliance for the Future of Kosovo | 1,916 | 10.53 | | |
| | Esad Haxhijaha (incumbent) | Democratic League of Dardania | 856 | 4.70 | | |
| | Visar Korenica | New Kosovo Alliance | 855 | 4.70 | | |
| | Vahdet Kollari | ORA | 244 | 1.34 | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 18,198 | 100.00 | 14,608 | 100.00 |
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