Haxhiu after political consultations: Agreement on the president is essential to avoid a new crisis

On 18.08.2026, Kosovo’s acting president, Albulena Haxhiu, held a consultative meeting with representatives of political parties on the political situation and institutional deadlock.

The meeting scheduled for 09:00 was attended by LVV leader Albin Kurti, Alternativa leader Mimoza Kusari Lila, Guxo leader Donika Gërvalla, as well as representatives of non-majority community parties.

The Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Democratic League of Kosovo and the Alliance did not respond positively to Haxhiu’s invitation. The meeting aimed to discuss political and institutional developments and the possibility of reaching an agreement on electing a consensus president.

PDK MP Uran Ismaili announced that the party would not take part in the meeting. According to him, Haxhiu should have turned to the Assembly speaker, Avni Dehari, to call a session.

Ismaili described the meeting as another manipulation attempt by Albin Kurti and said deadlines were being dragged out in the face of the Constitutional Court deadline. He said PDK would not take part in the meeting but would be in the Assembly.

LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku also confirmed the invitation was refused. He said LDK holds meetings with party leaders and that, in this case, it could only meet with LVV leader Albin Kurti, since Haxhiu is an Assembly MP.

The meeting was also opposed by Alliance leader Ardian Gjini. He said Haxhiu is not an elected president and has no mandate to play the role of unifier of the political spectrum.

Gjini accused Haxhiu and Kurti of not seeking a solution, but a scapegoat for the decision that, according to him, they had already made to take the country to elections and this time also into institutional chaos. He added that the Alliance would not give them an alibi and that, if quorum votes were being sought, the Alliance’s six points existed.

Before the meeting, Haxhiu had said that three consecutive electoral processes with similar results showed that without political dialogue, especially on the issue of the president, no solution could be found for moving forward.

She had stressed that, although the election of the president is formally presented as a later stage of the institutional process, current circumstances make it the first point from which dialogue must begin.

Haxhiu had warned that without an agreement on the president, the path could open toward a new electoral process, which in practice would bring neither change nor a solution.

After the consultations concluded, Haxhiu said political parties must find a common path to overcome the situation. She said that in the coming days acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti would hold another meeting with the LDK.

According to Haxhiu, two different political positions are currently present on the constitution of the Assembly and the election of the president. LVV and its partners believe that entering the Assembly constitution process without an agreement on the president could bring a repeat of last year’s crisis.

On the other side, PDK, LDK and AAK support first constituting the Assembly and holding discussions on the president at a later stage.

Haxhiu said she heard the positions of all political parties and that all expressed the need to contribute to reaching an agreement on the president, with the aim of avoiding new elections.

She stressed that parties do not need to agree on every issue, while warning that even new elections offer no guarantee that the sides will reach an agreement.

During the meeting, according to Haxhiu, Albin Kurti said he has the necessary votes for Assembly speaker and that the main obstacle is related to the agreement on the president.

Haxhiu proposed that parties begin discussing concrete names for a consensus candidate who would not belong to any political party.

She said Kurti had made clear that he does not want the president to come from the ranks of LVV, thus denying discussions that LVV was insisting on its own candidate. According to Haxhiu, LVV has also expressed support for a consensus president.

The acting president expressed hope that meetings with parties would continue soon and that other political parties would also be included in them. She repeated that LVV is ready for a consensus president, so that new elections are avoided and the institutional crisis is resolved.