Prime Minister Albin Kurti described it as “good news” that the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) is seeking to have the country’s next President come from a name proposed by their party.
After meeting with PDK chairman Bedri Hamza, Kurti said:
“The good news is that PDK has decided to propose a candidate, and this naturally gives hope for an interesting race next week.”
He signaled that the country is heading toward a party-based contest for President.
Kurti noted that PDK currently holds 22 seats in the Assembly and needs eight additional signatures to formally submit its candidate for consideration. He stated that those eight signatures could potentially be secured with the help of Vetëvendosje (LVV).
“They are the second-largest political force in the Assembly of the Republic, and no one is closer than them to turning that number 22 into 30 by adding eight more signatures for the proposal that will come from PDK. Let us now see how this develops, but in the worst-case scenario we could also assist, or someone else could help, so that we have a race — because as you know, the Constitutional Court’s ruling from more than a decade ago requires there to be competition… Therefore, I hope we will have a race where the names are made known as soon as possible,” Kurti said.
For the election of the President, at least 80 MPs must be present in the Assembly chamber. If no candidate secures the required votes in the first two rounds, in the third round a candidate needs only 61 votes to be elected.
