Anti-Abdixhiku group in LDK says it has gathered the signatures to call an Extraordinary Assembly

An initiative launched by a group of senior politicians within the LDK to remove party leader Lumir Abdixhiku is, according to claims, moving forward successfully.

A source close to the “rebel” group said the necessary signatures of delegates have been secured to convene the party’s Extraordinary Assembly, where this body of the Democratic League would decide whether the current leader should step down or not.

According to the same source, one third of the signatures in support of this initiative have already been collected, a number which, under the party’s statute, is enough to call the Assembly.

He said he expects those signatures to be formally secured and then for the date of the Extraordinary Assembly to be set.

KP reported exclusively on Sunday that this process is being led by the mayor of Peja, Gazmend Muhaxheri, who is also head of the LDK branch in that city. According to the report, he has been visiting party units in other municipalities across the country as well to seek delegates’ signatures for the confidence vote assembly on Abdixhiku.

The demand for his removal came as a result of internal dissatisfaction within the party over the LDK’s result in the June 7 elections.

The first to demand Abdixhiku’s resignation were the Peja branch, the Lipjan branch, as well as one of Prishtina’s party units. On the same day, Abdixhiku indicated that he would not give up his post in the party, while calling for the resignation of precisely those who had asked him to make way for a different leadership in the LDK.

The Democratic League, which in the June 7 elections was led by former president Vjosa Osmani, received 16.69 percent of the vote nationwide. With this result, it secured 18 seats in the Assembly of Kosovo.

According to the LDK Statute, the signatures of one third of the Assembly’s members do not automatically bring about the removal of the chairman, but only create the basis for formally raising the issue of a confidence vote.

The LDK Assembly, according to its statutory composition, has 355 delegates elected by branch assemblies, including the current chairman, Lumir Abdixhiku.

Abdixhiku survived a confidence vote process at the Assembly in January of this year, which had been called after the unsatisfactory result in the December 28, 205 elections. In that vote, the LDK had received only 13.24 percent of Kosovars’ votes.