PRISTINA, Oct 6 /ATA/ Prime Minister Albin Kurti asked the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) to support the election of the president in exchange for votes on amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers. The PDK rejected the offer. Bekim Sejdiu has reaffirmed that he has withdrawn from the presidential race.
October 6 is the deadline for the election of Kosovo’s president. If the Assembly fails to elect a president, it will be dissolved and the country will go to new elections.
With the parties still at odds over the election of Kosovo’s president, protests calling for changes to the Law on the Specialist Chambers continued today, while Kosovo diplomat and lawyer Bekim Sejdiu confirmed that he had withdrawn from the presidential race.
In a Facebook post, Sejdiu said: “I have informed the LDK leadership and Prime Minister Kurti that I no longer consider myself part of the presidential election process, due to the failure to reach a political agreement and the lack of the necessary support in the Assembly.”
PDK leader Bedri Hamza said his party continued to maintain that the proposed amendments to the law on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague must first pass a second reading.
Speaking at a press conference following Kurti’s offer to support Bekim Sejdiu’s election as president before the proposed amendments to the law were passed, Hamza said the two issues should not be linked.
“For us, the order of things is clear. We have said: first, the law must pass both readings,” Hamza said.
He described Kurti’s offer as a “demand”.
“It was not an offer, but a kind of demand. There was no agreement, no talks — ‘come and vote for this candidate, this is the candidate, bring me the votes’,” Hamza said when asked about the offer.
He said the country was heading for elections “because of Vetëvendosje’s political agenda”.
“This will come at a cost to the citizens of Kosovo and the country. The problem is that they have taken deliberate and planned actions without wanting the outcome. They never intended to pass the amendments to the law through both readings,” Hamza said.
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