Kurti announces meetings with the opposition on the election of the president

2026-03-30 13:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has announced that he will invite opposition party leaders to meetings in an effort to secure the necessary votes to elect the country's new president.

He said that so far there has been no time to hold internal consultations regarding these meetings due to a visit to Paris, France. But, he added that they will take place soon.

"I will extend invitations to meetings for the leaders of the opposition parties to see what are the ways to reach the number of at least 80 MPs ," Kurti said.

Kurti said that he will hold internal consultations today and tomorrow, and then invitations to the opposition will come.

Asked whether the candidacies of Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca and LVV MP Fatmire Kollçaku for the post of president will be withdrawn, Kurti said that "we will see what is legally possible."

According to him, in order for the presidential election process to be secure, even broader support in the Assembly is needed.

"We need to be around 85 to be sure to elect the president there, and for this I will also make invitations and hold meetings," he emphasized.

Kurti did not provide details on what concrete offers might be presented at these meetings, adding that this will only be announced after they take place.

Kurti's statements come at a time when the process for electing the president has entered a deadline set by the Constitutional Court.

Regarding the issue of the president, the Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, said that as soon as the conditions are created, the session for the president, which began on March 5, will continue.

"As I was informed, Prime Minister Kurti has made it clear today that he will continue with the invitations to parliamentary groups, therefore I hope that these discussions, meetings lead to a solution to the issue of the president. It is very important that the country does not go to elections," she said during a press conference while the meeting of the Assembly presidency was being held.

Asked what happens to the 30 signatures for the presidential candidates if one of the two candidates withdraws from the race, Haxhiu said that if there is a will, a solution can be found.

"In relation to the current situation, what is important is the will. The path to reaching a solution is found as soon as there is will. In this regard, neither the Constitution, nor any law, nor the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly foresee situations of prohibiting the withdrawal of either a candidate or signatures or what if one more is added. You know, there can be a maximum of four candidates ," she emphasized.

Meanwhile, the head of the Parliamentary Group of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Besnik Tahiri, said that it is Kurti's responsibility to give the state a president.

"We think that it is the direct responsibility of Prime Minister Kurti with 66 votes, then and now, to give Kosovo the presidency ," he said, adding that to achieve the 80 votes needed for the presidency, a political agreement is needed.

He expressed skepticism that Kurti's announcements of meetings with the president will produce any results.

"You know it yourself, this is a working method, a standard procedure for this political formation that leads Kosovo to drag things out and in the end, to carry out a process as if we are discussing a unifying president. The same thing will happen again, the same rhetoric will continue ," he said.

On March 25, the Constitutional Court ruled that MPs have 34 more days to elect a new president, namely until April 28. If this does not happen, the country automatically goes to new elections.

Such meetings between Kurti and the opposition were announced even before the March 5 session, when the Assembly failed to elect the president due to a lack of quorum. The Prime Minister had even sent invitations for the meeting while the case was in the Constitutional Court.

However, the leaders of the opposition parties had refused to meet at that stage, emphasizing that they preferred to wait for the Constitutional Court's decision before entering into political talks.

The case ended up in the Constitutional Court after President Vjosa Osmani decreed the dissolution of the Assembly on March 6, a day after the failed presidential election. The court ruled that this decree had no legal effect.

Currently, the Vetëvendosje Movement does not have enough votes to elect the president on its own. This process requires at least 80 deputies present in the chamber and two-thirds of the votes in the first two rounds, while in the third round, 61 votes are required.

Opposition parties have emphasized that the primary responsibility for securing a majority falls on the ruling party, while they have called for a political agreement to overcome the situation.

The presidential election must be completed no later than 30 days before the end of the term of the current president, Vjosa Osmani, who ends her term on April 5. Osmani herself aimed for a second term, but she did not enjoy the support of the parties.

For the ruling party, she did not have the necessary votes, while for other parties she did not personify the necessary unity that the figure of the president needs.

If the parties do not reach an agreement within the specified deadline, Kosovo risks entering a new cycle of elections, just a short time after the end of the last ones. /REL