The extraordinary Assembly of the Democratic League of Kosovo, held last week, gave Lumir Abdixhiku its support to continue leading the party for another term. The vote rejected the initiative to dismiss him and confirmed the majority of delegates’ confidence in the current leadership.
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Political analyst Idriz Zeqriaj said in a statement to “Bota sot” that the LDK had been engulfed in a serious internal crisis. According to him, a group supported by the PDK had sought to remove Abdixhiku from the post of chairman and prevent a possible coalition with LVV.
Zeqriaj said that Isa Mustafa had mobilized support for convening the Assembly, while Lumir Abdixhiku had chosen to confront the delegates’ will directly. He had asked them to make their decision based on their conscience and the interests of the LDK.
According to him, by July 30, the situation in the LDK had been the most serious in a period of 15 years. Zeqriaj claims that a group of dissatisfied figures within the party hierarchy, acting on the orders of and supported by PAN, particularly the PDK, attempted to organize a coup against Abdixhiku and his leadership.
He said the group’s aim was to oppose an LDK-LVV coalition and continue political cooperation with the PAN opposition, primarily the PDK. According to Zeqriaj, their activities were carried out secretly, with the goal of amnestying the crime and the people involved in it, as well as rehabilitating those who, in his view, had harmed the LDK and Kosovo.
Zeqriaj claimed that the group he described as “mafia-like” and coup-plotting, with Isa Mustafa in the leadership role, had worked with the delegates of the General Council for a long time. He said the delegates had been asked to provide their signatures for convening the Assembly that would seek the chairman’s dismissal.
On the other hand, according to him, Abdixhiku accepted the confrontation at the ballot box without making prior preparations and without securing delegates’ signatures. His message to the delegates was that they should vote freely, in accordance with their conscience and will, putting the interests of the LDK and Kosovo first.
Zeqriaj described Abdixhiku’s presentation of the reasons for holding the extraordinary Assembly as accurate, direct and sincere. He said the chairman had also been critical of some former associates who had previously selected and voted for him at the 10th Assembly.
According to the analyst, the project to halt the talks that had begun between the LDK and LVV, as well as to prevent the unification and profiling of the right in Kosovo, failed to achieve its goal. The Assembly convened to dismiss Abdixhiku, instead of removing him, reconfirmed Dr. Lumir Abdixhiku as chairman of the LDK.
He stressed that the Assembly approved the handling of party matters within its structures and decided that they should not become subjects of discussion in the “bazaar.” The decisions of the governing bodies were also declared binding on all LDK members.
Zeqriaj added that no one could speak on behalf of the party without authorization from the LDK leadership. According to him, the sides that had previously been in opposition to one another accepted the Assembly’s decisions and pledged to unite in the interests of the party and Kosovo.
He described the reactions of the dissatisfied group as tendentious and defamatory toward the chairman and the LDK leadership. Zeqriaj also said that the request to hold the Assembly had not come from the party grassroots, but had been encouraged by certain figures within the party, with the support of some media outlets.
The analyst said the claim that the initiative for the Assembly had come from the grassroots was untrue. According to him, this narrative was initially launched by two members of the Presidency, whom he described as part of an old faction and loyalists of former chairman Isa Mustafa.
Zeqriaj said that several mayors and deputies later joined the criticism, and that, in his view, they had benefited from the LDK over the years through party and government positions. He claimed that PAN-dominated media, mainly those controlled by the PDK, gave these voices extensive coverage and even campaigned for them during the elections for deputies.
According to him, Abdixhiku faced a harsh and unusual campaign within the party. He said the chairman had repeatedly requested meetings of the Presidency, but those efforts had been boycotted by his opponents. Zeqriaj added that some of them, on Isa Mustafa’s orders, had resigned from the LDK Presidency in order to escalate the crisis.
Despite the clashes and criticism, Zeqriaj said he believed the LDK would continue to be one of the main pillars of politics in Kosovo. He said Abdixhiku, unprepared for the wave of accusations he considered unfounded, had responded with strong counteraccusations, at times going beyond the standard expected of a chairman.
He also criticized some analysts who, according to him, joined a deliberate campaign to undermine and extinguish the LDK. However, Zeqriaj stressed that such a scenario would not be realized, as the LDK had been and would remain the “backbone” of Kosovo’s political scene, from which, in his view, the Balkan region had also learned lessons.
Zeqriaj described the decision to extend Abdixhiku’s mandate until the regular elections as correct. He underlined that the party had intellectual and professional cadres capable of taking on leadership responsibilities in the future.
He said the extraordinary Assembly, which he described as having been imposed by a group blackmailed by the PDK, delivered the right decision, one long awaited by the LDK and Albanians. In this context, Abdixhiku was confirmed in office until the regular elections, which are expected to be held next year.
According to Zeqiraj, the LDK, as an “academic house,” has trained people, intellectuals and professionals capable of leading the party of President Rugova.
At the end of his statement, he said that strengthening the LDK should rely on figures with integrity, professional qualifications, experience and a proven record of contribution. In this group, he mentioned Vjosa Osmani, Ukë Rugova, as well as military officers Anton Quni and Fadil Hadergjonaj.
Zeqriaj described Vjosa Osmani as a figure with a high level of intellectual preparation and complete integrity, demonstrated in numerous confrontations over more than a decade. According to him, her decision to challenge and remove Isa Mustafa from the leadership of the LDK, whom he described as having been catapulted by the PDK, was an act of civic and intellectual courage, regardless of the consequences.
He said Osmani’s aim of removing PAN from power and ending its rule, which according to Zeqiraj was linked to crimes, made cooperation with LVV reasonable. Continuing PAN’s rule, he declared, would be a serious provocation to the people of Kosovo and to Albanians wherever they live.
Zeqriaj described Vjosa Osmani’s return to the LDK as right and appropriate for the time. As evidence of this support, he cited the fact that, out of 141 LDK voters, more than 93 thousand voted for Vjosa Osmani.
According to him, this support came despite a denigrating and defamatory campaign that he considered coordinated by both the government and the opposition. Zeqriaj called the attack on President Vjosa Osmani a shameless act and said that Kosovo would need at least two decades to produce another figure like her.
Regarding Ukë Rugova, he said that Ibrahim Rugova’s son had been made a “sacrificial lamb” because of his father. According to Zeqiraj, after PAN had been unable to remove Ibrahim Rugova from the “Pantheon of Glory” while he was alive, it had attempted to attack him after his death through his children.
Zeqriaj claimed that the accusations against Ukë Rugova had been entirely fabricated. He said PAN leaders had taken action to harm Ibrahim Rugova’s children, with the aim of attacking the figure of President Rugova himself. According to him, in this context, two deputy prime minister positions had also been awarded, even though the respective individuals had neither been members of the party Presidency nor party members.
He added that, although Italian Embassy officials had been acquitted by an Italian court in connection with the “Visa Case,” Ukë Rugova continued to remain involved in Kosovo’s judicial proceedings. According to him, Ukë’s sister, Teutë Rugova, was later also drawn into the case.
Zeqriaj said Teuta Rugova had been singled out from among the 120 deputies of Kosovo’s Parliament and that PAN leaders had targeted her for use in creating a phantom PAN government. He described this as an act of blackmail and a unique crime.
Despite these developments, the analyst said President Rugova had survived this as well, in what he called the criminal and thuggish storm unleashed by his political opponents.
Regarding Ukë Rugova, Zeqriaj said he had solid intellectual qualifications and was intelligent, well-liked, communicative and measured—qualities that, in his view, he had biologically inherited from his father, Ibrahim Rugova.
He criticized all sides within the LDK that, according to him, had invoked Rugova’s name but had taken no concrete steps to care for his children. Zeqriaj said they had been left to the mercy of fate and had become prey to profiteers closely linked to PAN.
According to him, Ukë Rugova suffered solely because he was Ibrahim Rugova’s son. Zeqriaj accused the LDK of failing to do enough to expose the true reason for his punishment. He added that delayed innocence damages justice and that the time had come to repay this debt.
In conclusion, Zeqiraj also spoke about Anton Quni and Fadil Hadergjonaj, describing them as experienced military officers with extensive leadership knowledge. According to him, they have a military tradition and integrity, view equality in leadership as the norm, and have demonstrated patriotism in the battles for liberation and freedom.
He said these figures give the LDK, the party of President Rugova, “charm, elegance and pride,” Zeqiraj told “Bota sot.”
