PRISTINA, Oct 6 /ATA/ Prime Minister Albin Kurti has made a “public offer” to the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) to support proposed amendments to the law on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
Kurti said that if the PDK pledged to secure at least half of the 22 votes in its parliamentary group for Bekim Sejdiu’s election as Kosovo’s new president that evening, he would secure 62 votes from his party and governing coalition partners to pass the proposed amendments.
Sejdiu was nominated under an agreement between Kurti’s Vetëvendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), but withdrew last month after six LDK MPs opposed his candidacy.
Kurti said at a press conference that Sejdiu remains a candidate and that he needs half of the PDK’s votes to secure the presence of at least 80 MPs in the 120-seat Assembly, the required quorum for his election on the final day of the constitutional deadline to elect a new president.
He said he was now awaiting a response from the PDK, as the opposition party “no longer wants to meet with us”.
“Bedri Hamza has issued an ultimatum and refuses to meet,” Kurti said.
Earlier, PDK leader Bedri Hamza said he would not meet Kurti or anyone else until the proposed amendments limiting the Specialist Chambers’ powers were passed.
Kurti pledged to support the PDK’s proposed amendments to limit the Specialist Chambers’ powers “first thing Thursday morning”, arguing that Article 85 of the Kosovo Assembly’s Rules of Procedure must be respected, which requires at least 72 hours to pass between the principle approval of a bill and its second reading.
The amendments were approved in principle on Monday.
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