Bedri Hamza’s departure from the leadership of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), alongside recent developments over the return to Parliament of the law on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, has revived discussions about the party’s future and divisions between its groups.
In a statement to the newspaper “Bota sot,” political analyst Gani Qarri said that the PDK was going through a difficult period. According to him, internal clashes and the lack of agreement over the party’s future leadership could hinder its reform.
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Qarri said that Hamza had managed for a time to bring together groups that had been at odds, but that his resignation had once again left the PDK facing unresolved problems.
The analyst also linked the situation to the debates over the law on the Specialist Chambers. He said that pressure to approve the law and the subsequent demand for it to be returned to Parliament had caused dissatisfaction within the party.
According to Qarri, if the crisis does not serve as an impetus for deep reform, the PDK could become even more divided. Regarding the possible race for a new chair, he mentioned Enver Hoxhaj, Uran Ismaili and Vlora Çitaku.
According to the analyst, the resignation came at a delicate moment, when the PDK was facing internal divisions and struggling to find a leader who could reconcile its various groups.
Qarri recalled that Hamza had been chosen to lead the party as a figure who could secure reconciliation, creating expectations of stabilization.
He said that Hamza had become chair through an agreement, not through a vote by the PDK membership or its leadership. According to Qarri, he took over at a highly critical time, with the aim of achieving broad consensus, and was seen as a stabilizing figure who brought calm to the party. The analyst described Hamza as a unifying leader, open to dialogue, reconciliation and the political compromises necessary with rival parties.
However, Qarri stressed that the calming of the situation during Hamza’s leadership did not resolve the PDK’s fundamental issues.
According to him, the situation in the party had been complicated even before Hamza took over. Despite his contribution, Qarri believes that he was used as a caretaker and temporary manager of the crisis during a brief transitional period, rather than as a long-term solution. The analyst added that Hamza had temporarily managed to quiet opposing voices within the groups and manage relations with individuals and groups that were categorically opposed to the continuation of Prime Minister Kurti’s government.
Qarri said that Hamza was also criticized after the law was approved in Parliament by those who opposed continuing political cooperation with LVV.
According to the analyst, one of the issues directly linked to the recent developments in the PDK was the approval of the law on the Specialist Chambers and the demand that it be returned to Parliament.
Qarri said that Hamza had come under great pressure to support the law’s approval within a short period. He added that, in his assessment, there had been concerns about the procedure and about the law’s compatibility with the Constitution and Kosovo’s international obligations.
The analyst claimed that a major problem weighing on Hamza before and after his resignation was pressure from influential figures in the PDK to ensure that the law was approved in Parliament without waiting for the statutory 72-hour deadline. Qarri said that, although they and the party leadership knew this as well, the rushed approval was inconsistent with both Kosovo’s Constitution and its international obligations. According to him, the law risked later being challenged before judicial bodies and struck down by the Constitutional Chambers of the Specialist Chambers or by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo itself.
Qarri also highlighted the importance of the political agreement which, according to him, helped unblock the institutions and achieve an agreement on the issue of the president.
He said that the law produced an important political result, as it pushed the two main parliamentary parties toward an agreement in principle and a shared compromise from which both sides could benefit. According to him, this helped overcome the political deadlock and institutional blockade that had lasted for more than two years. Qarri expressed gratitude to the two leading figures of the parties—the prime minister and chair of LVV, Albin Kurti, and the former PDK chair, now resigned, Bedri Hamza—for the agreement that provided for the election of the country’s president alongside the approval of the law.
However, according to Qarri, the PDK’s subsequent demand that the law be returned to Parliament increased disagreements and prompted reactions within the party.
He said that this situation had raised questions about how decisions were made in the PDK and about possible pressure on the resigned chair.
Qarri cited the reaction of PDK MP Bekim Haxhiu, who, according to him, called for the resignation of the entire party leadership by midnight on October 22 and for an extraordinary meeting of the Governing Council to be held within 48 hours.
According to the analyst, Haxhiu sees the demand to return the law to Parliament as a game involving the Kosovo Liberation Army, those accused and convicted in The Hague, and the interests of the state of Kosovo.
Qarri said that the MP, dissatisfied with the situation, linked the PDK Parliamentary Group’s demand to return the law to political interests which, in his view, affected the foundations of freedom, violated the people’s sacrifice and seriously damaged the country’s dignity, while also gambling with the fate of those convicted in The Hague and with Kosovo’s future.
The analyst added that Haxhiu’s call for immediate changes in the party leadership showed the level of dissatisfaction that had developed.
According to Qarri, Haxhiu is calling for the immediate resignation of the entire PDK leadership on the night of October 22, 2026, and for an urgent meeting of the Governing Council within 48 hours. He presents this as a decisive moment for taking responsibility and taking concrete action, with the aim of saving what can be saved and preventing the party from breaking up into regional groups or factions amid the most severe shock it has faced so far.
Speaking about the composition of the PDK, Qarri said that at least three powerful groups operate within it, although there may be more. According to him, these groupings have different interests and views on the party’s future.
He described the situation as a crisis that cannot be resolved simply by electing a new chair without first addressing the disagreements and relations between the groups.
Qarri called Hamza’s resignation the first serious consequence for the PDK’s future and political continuity, as well as the development with the most negative impact so far. He linked it to the recent public clash between Sami Lushtaku, whom he described as the party’s de facto chair, and Ramiz Lladrovci, the mayor of Drenas.
According to the analyst, the resignation could become a turning point for the PDK, but everything depends on how the process that follows is managed.
Qarri warned that if the resignation is not used to carry out deep and radical reform and to open the way for new figures not involved in the policies pursued so far, the PDK could disintegrate and split into regional factions. According to him, the party could cease to function as a parliamentary entity and remain merely a regional grouping of Drenica, mainly in Skënderaj and its surrounding area, led by Sami Lushtaku.
Qarri said that broader changes were needed than simply replacing the chair, including changes to the way decisions are made and to relations between influential groups within the party structures.
In this climate, attention has turned to the possible candidates for the new PDK chair. Qarri mentioned Enver Hoxhaj, Uran Ismaili and Vlora Çitaku as names who could emerge as favored candidates from the party’s new electoral process.
However, the analyst believes that each of them could face opposition from different groups within the PDK because of their political ties and the perceptions surrounding them.
Qarri listed Hoxhaj, the PDK’s former interim chair; Ismaili, chair of the branch in Pristina; and Çitaku, the party’s interim leader, as possible candidates who could benefit from the new elections. According to him, one of them, or perhaps two, could be nominated for chair and take over the PDK, but perhaps only temporarily, without bringing an end to the internal disagreements.
The analyst also mentioned the reservations that, according to him, could be raised about each name. Regarding Çitaku, it could be said that she is an admirer of Hashim Thaçi; regarding Uran Ismaili, that he is a protégé of Kadri Veseli; while Enver Hoxhaj could be labeled anti-KLA because of an old statement in Vienna, during the war years, that he would seek asylum in Belgrade if the KLA won in Kosovo.
Qarri concluded that these were some of the issues that could reignite the situation, which he described as extremely explosive and chaotic within the PDK.
According to the analyst, the party’s challenge is not limited to choosing Bedri Hamza’s successor. The PDK needs to find a way to unite its structures and avoid further divisions.
