Impasse for the president/ Kosovo Assembly holds session today

2026-04-27 16:13:58, Kosova & Bota CNA

An extraordinary session of the Kosovo Assembly, for "discussion regarding the election of the President of the Republic of Kosovo", has been scheduled for today at 5:00 PM.

The session will be held one day before the expiration of the constitutional deadline for electing a new head of state.

The deputies of the tenth legislature have until April 28 to elect the president, otherwise, according to a decision of the Constitutional Court, the country automatically goes to elections, which must be held within 45 days.

The warning for the session comes at a time when the parties have not announced any agreement on the president, for whose election 80 votes are required.

Over the weekend, the ruling Vetevendosje Movement asked the two opposition parties, the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic League of Kosovo, to present three proposals for president, who it said should be unifying and non-partisan figures.

The PDK rejected the offer, with its leader, Bedri Hamza, calling the offer "frivolous."

"It's not an offer. It's not an offer for us. What offer? Not serious at all. We are different political parties. LDK is a political entity in itself. PDK is a political entity in itself," he said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the LDK said it could nominate the current president, Vjosa Osmani, but on the condition that Prime Minister Albin Kurti's LVV gives 66 votes for her.

"If you want a political agreement with the LDK, then talk to us. We propose the president with full responsibility. We can also propose Vjosa Osmani, if you guarantee us 66 votes for him," said Abdixhiku, whose party has 15 seats in the Assembly, said the leader of the LDK, Lumir Abdixhiku.

The LVV, which on March 5 nominated Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca and MP Fatmire Mulhaxha-Kollçaku for the post of president, said it would withdraw these two names from the race if the opposition brings forward the three requested names.

LVV's latest offer comes after the failure of talks between Kurti and opposition leaders, Bedri Hamza of PDK and Lumir Abdixhiku of LDK, who had not accepted the prime minister's proposals.

Kurti had offered the LDK the post of deputy prime minister and four ministries, and in a second offer the post of speaker of parliament. He had also offered the post of speaker of parliament to the PDK.

LDK had rejected these offers and accused Kurti of intending to control all three main institutions in the country.

The PDK had refused to consider Kurti's offer at all, calling "our contribution" to the president's issue closed.

The President of Kosovo is elected with two-thirds of the votes in the first two rounds of voting, or with 61 votes in the third round, but 80 deputies are needed in the chamber for the session to be held.

Therefore, an agreement between parliamentary parties is needed on this issue, given that no party - not even Kurti's ruling party with 57 MPs - has such a large number of MPs in the 120-seat Parliament.

Meanwhile, previous efforts for the country's new president failed as neither side seemed willing to make concessions./REL