Kosovo edging towards another election as leaders disagree on electing new president

English

Gazeta Express

09/12/2020 11:53

A failure to elect the new president of Kosovo in the first quarter of 2021 might cause the troubled ruling coalition to collapse and trigger an early election.

Chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) a leading coalition partner in Avdullah Hoti’s Government, announced last week organizing a roundtable of all political leaders to discuss election of the new president of Kosovo. But prospects of such meeting appear dim as leaders of the main political parties continue clashing in distance on who should succeed Hashim Thaci as country’s president after he was indicted by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) of war crimes for his role as political representative of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during 1998-1999 war with Serbia.

Mustafa who proposed organizing of a meeting of all political leaders now says that there is no readiness to hold such a roundtable. “I am in contact with political parties represented in Parliament, but the Vetevendosje. There is no readiness to organize a roundtable discussion which will bring to the table the opposition or part of it,” Mustafa said. He said that the persistence of certain parties that only their leaders become presidents and not other candidates might trigger early election.  

“There are public statements of MPs insisting that their will vote only their candidate for president and not a candidate proposed by other parties. This proves that there is an ongoing battle through media and TV debates, and there is no willingness to organize a roundtable. Time is ticking away, and we are deigning towards another election,” Mustafa told Telegrafi.

Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) a junior party in the LDK-led coalition, has been nominated by his party for country’s president. Haradinaj himself is insisting that the president’s post belongs to the AAK, but the LDK is opposing such a proposal. To elect the new president the ruling coalition needs votes of one of the two opposition parties in Parliament – the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and Vetevendosje. The acting chairman of the PDK, Enver Hoxhaj, said that they will not become part of a process which would produce electing of a president contributing to internal divisions and isolation of Kosovo, a clear reference to Haradinaj who accused the PDK of being involved in corruption affairs during the time they were part of the Government. The Vetevendosje leader, Albin Kurti, in a Facebook post Wednesday said that Kosovo needs to legitimize its institutions through snap elections. /GazetaExpress/