The 15th session of the Tetovo Municipal Council was accompanied by tensions and it took four hours of discussions and two coordinating breaks to approve the agenda. Despite the acceptance of their request to add an item for the renaming of 67 streets, BDI councilors decided to leave the meeting.
BDI’s proposal for street renaming received support not only from members of this party but also from councilors of the VLEN coalition. Other political groups in the council opposed or abstained during the voting process.
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The dissatisfaction of BDI representatives stemmed from the fact that their proposed item would be addressed last, after 25 other issues scheduled on the agenda. After a second coordinating break, they chose to abandon the session.
Berat Murati, who leads the BDI advisory group, explained the reasons for this action: “We left the meeting because, although we insisted several times that our issue be first on the agenda, VLEN colleagues and the mayor repeatedly refused. We had three or four consultations, but still the decision was made that our item would not be a priority.”
On the other hand, deputy mayor Albi Qamili, who is part of VLEN, interpreted BDI’s actions as an attempt to create artificial division. According to him, the aim was to overshadow the achievements of the local government, such as the start of works on the Tetovo-Prizren road axis.
“Today we witnessed a strange stance from BDI councilors, who, trying to stage a political show, demanded that the street names be re-voted. After we approved their request, they simply left,” Qamili stated. He also announced that the Street Renaming Commission will meet the next day to begin resolving the issues in accordance with legal procedures.
The street naming issue returned to focus after the Constitutional Court on June 17 annulled the previous decision of the Tetovo Municipal Council, taken in 2007.
