The elected deputies of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) have announced that their party is seeking the country’s presidency.
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The demand was reiterated by Hykmete Bajrami and Jehona Lushaku Sadriu, one day after a meeting between LDK Chairman Lumir Abdixhiku and the leader of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Albin Kurti, on forming the new institutions ended without an agreement.
According to Lushaku Sadriu, the LDK has consistently maintained that Kosovo’s institutions should be built on a balance of political forces.
“In this context, our demand is for the post of president to go to the LDK. We want to sit down and discuss all the positions of power, and then have them divided proportionally. This has been our position,” Lushaku Sadriu told the media before a meeting of the LDK Parliamentary Group.
Hykmete Bajrami said she was not familiar with the details of the meeting held the previous day, but assessed that Abdixhiku was “rightly” insisting that the LDK receive the post of president.
“I believe that the post of president would create a balance among the branches of power in Kosovo and would serve as a guarantee both for Kosovo and for the Democratic League of Kosovo,” Bajrami said.
She added that LVV’s proposal for ministerial posts did not constitute a guarantee for the LDK.
The talks between Kurti and Abdixhiku lasted more than three hours. After they ended, the two leaders expressed opposing views on the issue of the president, a disagreement that months earlier between the parties had contributed to the announcement of the June 7 elections.
Albin Kurti said that Kosovo needed a consensus-based, nonpartisan president. Lumir Abdixhiku, on the other hand, said that any president who secured 80 votes from deputies should be considered consensual.
“A consensus president is any president who receives 80 votes. The LDK must feel represented in order to give its votes,” Abdixhiku said on the evening of August 4.
Vjosa Osmani also took part in the meeting with Kurti. The LDK had run with her in the June elections for another term at the head of state, as had the party’s deputy chairman, Lutfi Haziri.
LVV and the LDK have announced that they will continue discussions, while the constitutive session of the eleventh legislature is expected to take place on August 6. Following the constitution of the Assembly, the deadlines for forming the government and electing the president will begin.
The deputies will then have 60 days to elect the president. If this does not happen, Kosovo will go to elections, the fourth since February 2025.
The Vetëvendosje Movement secured 58 seats and, together with the parties representing non-majority communities, has the necessary number of votes to constitute the Assembly and form the new government. These processes require 61 votes in the 120-seat Assembly.
Meanwhile, for the vote on Kosovo’s president to be valid, 80 deputies must be present in the chamber.
A possible agreement with the LDK, which won 18 seats, would bring the parties to at least 81 votes. This would be sufficient to elect the new president, provided that at least 80 deputies remained in the chamber. / REL
