For the third time, Prime Minister Albin Kurti and LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku sat down today facing each other with the issue of the President as the topic on the table. They met again yesterday, without reaching any results. It is not known exactly what moved them to meet again today. Abdixhiku said yesterday that “there is no further consultative process as far as I understand”. As for another meeting to take place, he said that “in all likelihood it is difficult”, but added that “if there are new developments, we will have the meeting”. Kurti then warned that there would be a last-ditch effort.
Express newspaper
"There is nothing new," said Prime Minister Albin Kurti yesterday afternoon after meeting for the second time with LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku.
The parties have failed to agree on a consensual name for President.
It is not known what exactly happened next that led Kurti to meet again with Abdixhiku today.
"We still don't have the solution, but we will let you know if this happens soon," Kurti said today after the meeting, and unlike yesterday, without stopping to talk to journalists.
LDK Vice President Kujtim Shala said he has no information about what happened in today's Kurti-Abdixhiku meeting, but indicated that the party did not discuss "specific names." He said they will hold a parliamentary group meeting on this issue.
"We will discuss the solution in principle today and after the meeting we will be able to make a formal, official statement," he said.
Kurti said yesterday after the meeting with Abdixhiku that the LVV, together with minority MPs, have 66 votes in the Assembly, emphasizing that "we are 14 MPs away, which makes the situation more difficult."
He mentioned the possibility that the LVV could field two candidates for President and the opposition could field one candidate. He said that "the conditions are ideal for us to have 3 candidates."
He avoided a direct answer to a journalist's question about why they are not proposing Vjosa Osmani for another term as president of the country.
"We need to have 80 people who stay in the hall and vote at a minimum. We consider that we cannot go to the polls with 80. If the number comes out to be 79 in the end, we automatically go to the elections. Our absolute priority, in the current political situation, is avoiding elections. We need to make sure not to have 80, but to have 84-85, and this is what the battle is being fought for with these communications and these meetings that we are holding," he said.
Kurti said that 30 MPs do not solve problems and "even 80 is not a guarantee."
"Now, 30 doesn't solve the problem. I emphasize once again, 80 is not a guarantee either. We need 84 or 85 to be sure of 80."
At the end of his statement to the media yesterday, Kurti announced that he would make "efforts" last night and today to resolve the President's issue.
"Let us try tonight and tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, I believe we should learn about this," he said.
He said that "we will definitely discuss specific names" and that "the possibilities are there" and that "there is no need to go to elections."
Abdixhiku, after yesterday's meeting with Kurti, said that he sees "the issue of political consensus at this moment within Albanian political parties as very difficult". He even said that "there is no name, there is no further consultative process as far as I understand". When asked if they would meet again, he said: "In all likelihood, difficult, but if there are new developments, we will have the meeting".
Now, he said that an LDK-LVV political agreement is no longer on the table. He said that "there have been neither preconditions nor discussions for a political agreement."
Asked about President Vjosa Osmani, who is seeking another term as head of state, Abdixhiku said that in neither of the two meetings with Kurti "was such a name present". He said that "LDK with 15 MPs cannot even appoint a name for a candidate at this stage, and Besa cannot even nominate anyone". At this stage, he said that they have no rejectionist stance towards anyone, "and even less towards Ms. Osmani".
"Let them try the race," he said, among other things, referring to Kurti's statements warning that there could be a party race for President. "But LDK suggests that consensus be tested before the race."
Party competition, he said, has only one outcome: going to the elections.
"It is a procedure predetermined to fail. If the Vetëvendosje Movement and the PDK decide to have a competition, then we will go to the elections in all likelihood, because I don't know how we will get 80 votes," he said.
PDK chairman Bedri Hamza met with Kurti for the second and final time on Saturday on the issue. After that meeting, he said he had made him a "final offer" that someone nominated by his party be elected president.
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