Veliu criticizes Abdixhiku: He is acting like the owner of the party, not its chairman

Agim Veliu, former vice chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), has come out in support of calls for Lumir Abdixhiku to resign from the leadership of the party, describing them as fair and entirely legitimate.

He stresses that the political responsibility for the poor election results and for LDK’s failure to re-establish itself as a serious alternative for power lies with Abdixhiku. According to Veliu, he should bear responsibility for the failure just as much as he claimed credit for what were presented as successes, “Bota sot” reports.

The calls for Lumir Abdixhiku’s resignation are fair and entirely legitimate. This is because he took upon himself the credit for every claimed success, and therefore he must also take on the burden of responsibility for the failure.

Under his leadership, LDK has remained in third place and has failed to return as a convincing alternative for power, despite major promises and his full control over the party.

After several election cycles in which the promised results were not achieved, remaining at the head of the party without any political reflection is being seen as a lack of responsibility and as an obstacle to the reform of LDK.

Even more troubling, according to him, was Abdixhiku’s arrogant reaction toward the chairmen of Lipjan, Peja and a branch in the capital, who demanded his resignation.

Instead of reflecting on the criticism, he responded by demanding the resignation of two branch chairmen who have consistently won elections in their municipalities, while he himself refuses to be held accountable for the party’s result at the central level.

With behavior that, according to Veliu, resembles that of a party owner more than that of an elected chairman, Abdixhiku is sending the signal that in LDK, those who demand accountability are punished, not those who fail.

When a leader tries to silence critical voices, punish the winners and avoid political responsibility, then the problem, according to this assessment, no longer lies only in the election result. The problem is tied to the way he understands democracy, internal debate and the very functioning of the party.