Kurti: Sejdiu remains the presidential candidate, we are working to avoid elections

Albin Kurti, acting prime minister and leader of the Vetëvendosje Movement, said that efforts to prevent the holding of elections continue, although reaching an agreement with the LDK for the election of the president has become more difficult. After a meeting with representatives of non-majority communities, he confirmed that the agreed candidate remains professor Bekim Sejdiu.

According to Kurti, the political agreement reached with the Democratic League of Kosovo for the post of president continues to be part of the discussions. He reiterated that Vetëvendosje’s proposal for this position is Bekim Sejdiu.

The meeting with representatives of non-majority communities took place in the Assembly. Kurti announced that the minority community MPs also expressed regret over the failure to implement the agreement with the LDK.

“We discussed the political agreement reached with the LDK regarding the name of the president, on which we have already agreed, professor Bekim Sejdiu. They also expressed regret that the agreement is not being implemented, as six LDK MPs are not respecting it,” Kurti stated.

He clarified that there were ten representatives in total at the meeting: five of them are part of the government, while five others belong to the next legislature.

“There were ten of us at the meeting; five are in the government and five in the Assembly of the upcoming legislature. Two were Bosniaks, two Turks, two Egyptians, and one Serb, one Ashkali, and one Roma. I thanked them for their contribution and we will continue forward together, trying to avoid elections, now that we have an agreement,” he said.

The head of Vetëvendosje assessed that recent developments have complicated the political situation, although, according to him, progress has also been made.

“Yesterday afternoon there was a negative development, but we have had progress,” Kurti said. He added that in the current legislature there are more possible votes for electing the president than in the past.

Kurti also announced that he will consult with the Presidency of the Vetëvendosje Movement on the next steps.

Speaking about the meeting with the chairman of the LDK, Lumir Abdixhiku, he said the conversation focused on the situation within this party and the possibility of finding a way forward.

“Chairman Abdixhiku informed me about the situation in his party, while I informed him about the talks with the Vetëvendosje Parliamentary Group. Now a new meeting of the Presidency is needed to assess the possibilities for moving forward. We remain optimistic, even though the situation is more difficult than before,” he declared.

Asked about the specific candidate for president, Kurti reiterated that it is about professor Bekim Sejdiu.

“We reached an agreement and we had the authorizations to negotiate. The negotiations, fortunately, concluded with an agreement, but it seems that someone found accepting it much harder than the time when we had no agreement,” Kurti emphasized.