"The opposition is not interested in unblocking the process"/ Kurti: Our offer is very generous

2026-04-21 14:30:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

"The opposition is not interested in unblocking the process"/ Kurti:

The leader of the Vetëvendosje Movement, who is also the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that the offer he has made to the two opposition parties, the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic League of Kosovo, in exchange for the election of the new president is “very generous.” But, according to him, these parties are not interested in unblocking the process.

A day earlier, LVV and LDK, after a meeting, failed to reach an agreement on the issue of the president, as MPs have until April 28 to elect a new president, otherwise the country will go to elections.

Kurti offered the LDK the post of deputy prime minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora and three other ministries. Meanwhile, later on April 20, the leader of the PDK, Bedri Hamza, announced that Kurti, through a WhatsApp communication, had offered him the post of speaker of the Assembly, but that the PDK would give the post of deputy speaker of the legislative body to the LVV. Hamza's party said that it had concluded its contribution to the issue of the president.

Kurti told the media on Tuesday that parties must behave in accordance with the result of the parliamentary elections of December 28, 2025, when his party won 51.1 percent of the vote.

"Our offer is very generous, but they are not interested in unblocking it. They are behaving as if it is almost 2025, when, remember the session when Albulena Haxhiu was not voted for. 2025 has passed, it is 2026," he said.

Speaking about the offer he made to PDK, which Hamza described as frivolous, Kurti said that in that case, the Speaker of the Parliament, Albulena Haxhiu, would vacate the seat to Bedri Hamza, describing it as "a big concession for us", after emphasizing that four people in LVV have "more votes than Bedri Hamza".

"Besides me, Glauk Konjufca, Albulena Haxhiu and Hekuran Murati have more votes than Bedri Hamza."

Meanwhile, referring to the LDK, Kurti said that ten people in the LVV have more votes than the leader of this opposition party, Lumir Abdixhiku.

"I am not saying that the opposition is unimportant, on the contrary, I have made a generous offer. The LDK leader can become deputy prime minister, my deputy, and in addition to being deputy prime minister, he can also be the Minister of Foreign Affairs, so they can have four ministries and be deputy prime minister. And, not only that, or there is another version, if they do not like the co-government, we can do the reshuffle where Lumir Abdixhiku or someone else from the LDK becomes the Speaker of the Parliament," Kurti said.

Abdixhiku, after the meeting he held with Kurti on April 20, told the media that he would not meet with him again.

"I tried, I tried, I failed, unfortunately. Now I will return to LDK and I will return to the great mission of uniting the right within LDK," he said.

According to the Constitution, the president of Kosovo is elected with two-thirds of the votes in the first two rounds 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, the Vetevendosje Movement with 57 MPs - has such a large number of MPs in the 120-seat Parliament.

Previous attempts to elect a new president for the country also failed as neither side seemed willing to make concessions.

The ruling party presented two names for president in a session on March 5: Glauk Konjufca, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, and MP Fatmire Mullhaxha-Kollçaku, but the session was not held due to a lack of quorum, after the opposition left the hall.

The next day, former President Vjosa Osmani issued a decree dissolving the Assembly and paving the way for new elections. Osmani herself was aiming for a second term, but did not secure the necessary support in this regard.

The decree was overturned by the Constitutional Court following an appeal by the Government.

The highest court in Kosovo said the decree had no legal effect and set April 28 as the deadline for electing a president. /REL