- ECAP decides: No ballot recount at this stage (KTV)
- Srpska Lista says government can’t be formed without it, analysts don’t think so (KTV)
- U.S. Department of State expects new Government to immediately continue talks with Serbia (KTV)
- British Ambassador commends organisation of election, concerned about threats among Serbs (KTV)
- RTK doesn’t react to Shala’s status, who called VV voters pro-Russians (KTV)
- Kurti: We cannot undo Specialist Chambers, but we will make it unnecessary (Summary of KTV Intervista with Agron Bajrami)
News
ECAP decides: No ballot recount at this stage
(KTV)
The Election Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) has rejected the request of PDK, LDK, and the Nisma-AKR-PD coalition for recounting of all ballots from the October 6 elections, and found the request inadmissible.
All regular ballots from this election process have been counted, and conditional ballots and those from diaspora remain to be counted. Vetëvendosje is leading with 25.48 per cent of vote, namely 202,968 votes. It is followed by LDK with 24.82 per cent of the vote, namely 197,702 votes. PDK is the third with 21.24 per cent, namely 169,211 votes. The AAK-PSD coalition is the fourth with 11.57 per cent, namely 92,149 votes. The Nisma-AKR-PD coalition is at the edge of the 5 per cent election threshold. So far it has got 39,495 votes, namely 4.96 per cent. There were 40,732 invalid ballots.
Srpska Lista says government can’t be formed without it, analysts don’t think so
(KTV)
The government led by the Vetëvendosje’s nominee Albin Kurti will have room for Serbs, too. However, they will not belong to Srpska Lista.
Vetëvendosje’s MP candidate Albulena Haxhiu said that Srpska Lista will be in opposition, KTV reported.
But deputy chairman of Srpska Lista, Dalibor Jevtic, considers forming of government without his party impossible.
“Article 96 of the Constitution stipulates that a Serb representative in the government of Kosovo shall be elected from the majority of representatives of the community in the Kosovo Assembly. There is no debate here. What Kurti has said that he will take, I don’t know which Serb, would be as same as if we would say that we do not want Kurti Prime Minister, but we will take somebody else. That is simply impossible,” Dalibor Jevtic, Srpska Lista deputy chairman, said.
Mazllum Baraliu, election expert, believes that it is possible to form government without Srpska Lista, but he adds that the new nominee should ask for Srpska Lista to propose a representative for the government.
Representation of Serbs in the executive power is regulated also by the Kosovo Constitution.
However, Article 96, point 5 of the Constitution stipulates that if candidates outside MPs of the Kosovo Assembly are nominated for ministers and deputy ministers, formal approval by the majority of the MPs that belong to parties, coalitions, civic initiatives and independent candidates, who have claimed to represent the community in question, is required.
But according to Baraliu, if Serb MPs do not support proposal of Head of the government, it does not affect legitimacy of an appointed minister.
In the October 6 elections, Srpska Lista won 52,620 votes, namely 6.61 per cent, whereas other Serb parties have not won even 1 per cent of the vote.
U.S. Department of State expects new Government to immediately continue talks with Serbia
(KTV)
The U.S. Department of State congratulated Kosovars for successful conclusion of early elections.
A spokesman of U.S. Department of State reiterated the United States expects the new leadership of Kosovo to be willing to immediately engage for dialogue with Serbia.
“We welcome the opportunity to work with a new government, pro-dialogue, when it will be established and which is committed to strengthening democracy and ensuring peace, justice and prosperity for all citizens of Kosovo. We have been clear about our expectations for the new leadership of Kosovo to be willing to immediately engage with Serbia to work on an agreement that normalizes relations,” said a spokesman of U.S. Department of State.
British Ambassador commends organisation of election, concerned about threats among Serbs
(KTV)
The British Ambassador to Kosovo Nicholas Abbott commended the electoral process in Kosovo saying that they were well-organised and shows that democracy in Kosovo is growing.
In a Facebook post, Abbott said it was great to see results posted quickly on the CEC website.
“Kosovo held calm and well-organised parliamentary elections on Sunday. This shows that Kosovo’s democracy is growing in maturity. I applaud the Central Elections Commission’s dedication and professionalism, which our British Embassy observers saw first-hand across the country. It was great to see preliminary results posted so quickly on the CEC website, which made the process even more transparent,” he wrote.
British Ambassador said he is concerned with threats during the campaign in some areas of Kosovo resided with Serb population.
“I welcome the EU Election Observation Mission’s statement today, and share the view that the elections were well-administered. But I am concerned by the levels of intimidation in some Kosovo Serb areas during the campaign,” he said.
Abbott further said that he looks forward to working with the new Government, for which he said that result was clear that “Kosovo has voted for change”.
“The results are clear. Kosovo has voted for change, and now expects the quick formation of a new, stable Government which will tackle the important issues facing the country. I look forward to working with the new Government,” Abbott ended.
RTK doesn’t react to Shala’s status, who called VV voters pro-Russians
(KTV)
One day after Director of RTK portal Mentor Shala accused Kosovo citizens of voting for the East and for Russia in the Sunday elections, the public broadcaster decided not to react to Shala’s statement.
A reaction to the statement was made on Tuesday by the Independent Trade Union of RTK employees.
The Trade Union has condemned the insulting language of Director Shala, and called for the RTK Board and Management to distance from the denigrating language, which seriously violates code of ethics and professional standards of the public broadcaster.
KTV tried to contact Director Shala, but he did not answer the phone.
On the other hand, member of the RTK Board Afërdita Maliqi briefly said by telephone that RTK works based on its standards, while the Shala issue is a matter of the RTK Management.
RTK Management was reluctant to say whether they have initiated any legal proceeding against Shala, while the RTK General Director Ngadhnjim Kastrati did not answer KTV’s telephone calls.
Kurti: We cannot undo Specialist Chambers, but we will make it unnecessary
(Summary of KTV Intervista with Agron Bajrami)
The leader of Vetëvendosje Movement, Albin Kurti, in an interview with Kohavision, spoke for the first time after the end of counting of ballots by the Central Elections Commission.
Asked if there could be a change in the result between the Vetëvendosje and LDK after count of by-mail ballots, Kurti said the gap difference will only deepen further.
“I am convinced that after the counting of the conditional ballots and those of diaspora, the difference will deepen. Our diaspora has about 12,800 envelopes. There may be at least 2-3 ballots in an envelope, therefore we are expecting a deepening of the difference and the election result will not change,” Kurti said in an interview with “Koha Ditore” editor-in-chief Agron Bajrami.
Kurti also spoke about his contacts with LDK, saying he had contacted LDK chairman Isa Mustafa on Monday and the LDK’s nominee for Prime Minister, Vjosa Osmani, but specified that the meeting is expected to take place on Thursday.
“It is to welcome the fact of a massive turnout in elections for change by voting for the opposition, but allowing Vetëvendosje to lead this change. Yesterday I contacted LDK chairman Isa Mustafa and LDK’s nominee for Prime Minister Vjosa Osmani. I have asked them to meet either today or the next few days, and now, most likely, we will meet on Thursday so that we do not lose time to start with coalition talks,” Kurti said.
“Any vacuum only suits the old regime,” he said.
Albin Kurti, leader of Vetëvendosje, said that at the end citizens gave priority to his party ahead of LDK in the October 6th elections, to ensure that PDK will go into opposition.
He said he sees two factors for the LDK’s “reluctance” to immediately cooperate with the VV, shortly after the October 6th elections, with the latter appearing to be the first after the full count of regular ballots.
“I may not know all the causes of reluctance, but I have the impression that there are two factors, the first being that they do not look too explicitly as surrendered losers, although I do not experience them at all like that because citizens did not give the most support to VV, but to the opposition in general. They expected a better result, but citizens did not want to take the risk with something old. The weak state of Kosovo cannot stand another government that we had in the past, and to be sure that PDK goes into opposition they gave priority to Vetëvendosje. The second factor they did not meet today probably is because they need additional consultations. They need to see the result internally, in terms of the MPs who have won,” he said.
Albin Kurti said that they had previously agreed with LDK to have reforms in some sectors.
One of them is the justice sector, for which he said they will have no problems with LDK.
“We have a lot of work in the rule of law. Judges issues different judgments for the same tax evasion cases. The Republic as a state is a victim of these judges. With LDK we believe we will have no problem making these changes,” said VV’s nominee for Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
He said that when they discussed with the LDK, there were no objections from them.
“We discussed them in general and there was never any objection, even when we talked about strengthening the private sector. In the public sector one has to go to work because of security, not because of high salary. They agree that there is corruption and mismanagement in public enterprises. The absurdity of the Privatization Agency of Kosovo … the PAK’s mandate should end. PAK is a centrifugal body; it takes assets and disposes them. We need a centripetal institution. How will we call this, we shall discuss it over” the VV leader further stated.
According to VV chairman, Albin Kurti, if the average salary in the private sector exceeds that of the public sector, and reaches 600 euros, people will no longer leave Kosovo.
He said that after winning October 6th elections, justice and employment are the two key priorities of Vetëvendosje.
According to him, people cannot be kept in Kosovo without linking the labour market with qualitative education.
He said that before the end of the new governing mandate, the topic of migration should not exist in Kosovo.
Albin Kurti said that there is no possibility of a post-electoral coalition without the LDK.
According to him, if no agreement is reached with the LDK, people will have to go to the polls, although he says the PAN knows how to make different manoeuvres by trying to do something with LDK, but that, according to him, this would be “the greatest violation of the will of the people”.
“No, there is no other option. We cannot replace LDK with PAN now. I will start talks with LDK, base these talks on the election result and ultimately agree; because, if we do not agree, we will go to the polls again. Taking the mandate from us would be the greatest violation of the will of the people. In the PAN camp they have violent fantasies of trying to do something with the LDK,” Kurti said in this interview with Agron Bajrami.
Speaking about the possibility of not including Srpska Lista in his government, Kurti said he cannot approach MPs of this List, who do not recognize Kosovo, before other Kosovo Serbs, such as Nenad Rasic, who recognise the Republic of Kosovo.
“From the moment that I joined politics, I’ve tried to have ideals in politics. That is, not only to hold the general interest over the special interest, but to have ethics. I have never tried to start from the possible and find the best, but to discuss what the best is. The best would be for the PDK and Srpska Lista to be in opposition. These two are not [political] parties, but are states. In order to have democratic state-building, we need Srpska Lista and PDK in opposition. It would be immoral to contact and lobby with Srpska Lista when I have Rasic and Nikolic’s messages congratulating me for my victory in elections. We have Serbs in Kosovo who say the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. I will start discussion with them. It is good to challenge Srpska Lista so that they will vote for a Serb outside the Srpska Lista. I haven’t talked to the Serbs yet. I will start with LDK, and then with the others. All non-Serb parties have congratulated me, but not also the leaders of Albanian parties. Why take Rikalo and the rest of them, when we have Nenad Rasic. I’m not interested in pressing them [Srpska Lista], but liberate them from Belgrade. In the first constitutive session, I cannot but have a preference for Serbs who say neither ‘Kosovo and Metohija’ nor ‘Kosovo’s provisional institutions’, who do not call the KLA a terrorist organisation. We need to have the sequences clear. We should initially approach what is good,” Kurti considers.
Albin Kurti said that when he takes over the country’s government, he will review all agreements reached so far in dialogue with Serbia.
According to him, in order to know how to continue with the dialogue process, one must know what happened in the past and in what positions these agreements are currently at.
“First, I contrasted the Brussels dialogue, closed and diplomatic between the heads of states, the dialogue with the Kosovo Serbs, not only as necessary and only as such, but also why Srpska Lista was created in Brussels,” he said, continuing to call the “Thaçi-Dacic agreement” harmful.
Announcing the possibility of sending these agreements to the Venice Commission, Kurti said he expects LDK to not be against it, given that it’s most prominent MPs were against those agreements, including Vjosa Osmani, who was the LDK’s nominee for Prime Minister in October 6th elections.
VV leader Albin Kurti said that in negotiations for co-government with LDK, he expects to see what posts LDK will seek, the Foreign Ministry or the Assembly Speaker’s post.
Whether he will offer both posts to LDK, Kurti said that “there is an order of things because there already is an election result”.
“It’s up to the negotiations. There is a post that in the current practice was more important, that of the Speaker. We have to see what they prefer more, the Speaker or the MFA’s post, there is an order of things because there already is an election result,” he underlined.
However, according to Kurti, harmonisation of the program is more important than division of posts. He said that never before have citizens voted so hard for change.
Regarding the possibility of involving AAK in a potential VV government with LDK, Kurti said that “the AAK is better in opposition.”
“I do not equate AAK with PDK, because there is no way to do so, but with the recent government, it has come very close to it. I have never equated them with PDK. PDK stays in power and takes others on rent. It controls the state, judiciary, Police, Tax Administration of Kosovo, etc. PAN is PAN; it is good that it went to opposition,’ he said, while ruling out the possibility of co-operation with the Srpska Lista.
He said he will work with Serbs who recognize and respect Kosovo as a state.
Albin Kurti, nominee for Prime Minister from Vetëvendosje, the party which is first on the basis of regular ballots counted by the CEC, said he will convert the tariff on Serbian goods to reciprocity.
He said that in Tuesday’s meeting with the US Ambassador Philip Kosnett, he did not discuss this issue because, as he said, he had clarified it to him even earlier.
“Kosnett did not ask me about the tariff at all. I have said before that the tariff is not VV’s policy, but it is the full reciprocity. If Serbia wants to do something directly for the Kosovo Serbs, we should have the right to do the same for Albanians of the [Presevo] Valley. How come you impose a tariff on Serbia, and your trade deficit increases? This is because the previous Government did not talk to private business. When he imposed the tariff, the Vucic’s and Dacic’s started to seek its revocation, but they did not revoke it. If our Government had proposed reciprocity instead of the tariff, they would have had our support. After imposing reciprocity measures, the tariff will be removed. The reciprocity principle is the right one. This is what some of the great presidents of our time want to imitate. Tariff is the criterion of the powerful. With reciprocity we become powerful without strutting. The Prime Minister looked more stubborn than principled, and in government you have to be principled,” Kurti said in this exclusive interview with Agron Bajrami on KTV.
He further spoke of the campaign against Kosovo’s independence and against Kosovo’s membership in international organizations.
He said the Quint countries should demand from Belgrade a pledge that they will not launch such attacks against Kosovo in the international arena.
“I will not allow Serbia to insert itself as a wedge into Kosovo politics and divide us. We, the ruling and opposition parties, must be united towards Serbia. The former Prime Minister was weak for two reasons: he made prior agreement to vote demarcation and leave dialogue to Thaçi. That was the first reason. Second, he had 12 MPs while he had over 20 parties in Government. These made him a weak Prime Minister,” Kurti stated.
“I am convinced that government will make us, the Vetëvendosje Movement, even better, while opposition will also make PDK and AAK better,” he considers.
Albin Kurti said he sticks to the offer addressed to LDK that the next government should have 12 ministries.
He said that, according to the proposal, where the minister is from VV, the deputy should be from LDK and vice versa.
“I stick to the offer I made to the LDK in October 2018. To have 12 ministries, where the minister is VV, the deputy to be LDK, I believe is well laid out. Nowhere can there be more than two deputies,” he said.
Kurti said he expects LDK to have consent on the issue of vetting, while he expects active approach by the prosecution.
“The prosecution will for the first time breathe freely, freed from the executive. I expect to see the first effects. It will switch from passive to active approach. Vetting is very important. In discussions with Mustafa and Osmani, I am convinced that we will reach consent on this matter,” he said.
Albin Kurti said they will not take revenge against the current civil servants.
He said that as Prime Minister, he will add more work to them, saying that many of them have jobs, but they have no sufficient work.
“We have no time to deal with such trifles, with firing people. I will have the opposite approach. Many of them, who have jobs, have no sufficient work. So, I will be a Prime Minister who will give them more work to do,” Kurti said.
He stated that dismissals will happen at those public enterprise boards with poor performance.
“The public enterprise boards operating with losses are problematic. We should address them most seriously. Board dismissals will happen, but that is not all. There are reports of agencies, for example of PAK, annual reports of which do not pass in the Assembly, and still the same board continues working. When a report does not pass in the Assembly, it is the biggest de-legitimisation,” Kurti said.
“The Assembly was not sufficiently dynamic. However, there has been some arrogance in numbers from one government to the other, from one term to the other. I promise that we will not do any number arrogance. I will not be a Prime Minister who rarely goes to the Parliament. I will not hide myself behind ministers,” he added.
Kurti said he does not support the reaction of former Vetëvendosje MP Sali Zyba, who earlier on a Facebook post had said that the mayor of Prishtinë/Pristina would not be an MP or the mayor, and that he is free to choose the country of residence like Xhabir Zharku did.
According to Kurti, such comparisons should not be made. He said that opposition in Prishtinë/Pristina should not be made by MPs, but by the Prishtinë/Pristina Branch.
“I am not in favour of such comparisons. I haven’t read it, but I am not in favour of such comparisons. I think we have better things to do rather than dealing with who did what, who moved or did what. That is not up to us. I am in favour of a great love for our country, of engagement to maximum for progress, rather than wasting time and nerves in issues of the past and resentments. Even about those internal problems in Vetëvendosje, I did not allow not to see the forest for the trees. I am not in favour of that approach, but of course there is freedom of expression. The opposition in Prishtinë/Pristina is not done by MPs, but by the Prishtinë/Pristina Branch,” he said.
According to Kurti, the problems in Kosovo are corruption, access to finance (high loan interests), and poverty.
Moreover, he believes that poverty is the biggest problem for businesses, as there is no purchasing power.
He said that in the last week in a month, almost half of the population is poor.
“Quarter of the population in Kosovo is poor, but the interesting thing is that almost half of the population is poor in the last week in a month. That week is terrible in Kosovo. In that week, poverty in Kosovo is almost doubled. I did not rejoice publically, but it is far better that the elections in Kosovo were held on 6th October than on 29th September, because that is the last week in a month, and buying ballots would be more possible. Ballot buying has happened. We are receiving these reports late, but with the new government, liberation will happen, and they will be able to publish those cases,” Kurti stated.
Talking about possible co-governance with LDK, which is a right-wing centre party, and about division of ministries, Kurti said there will be no problems in this respect.
“The fund for social assistance is only 30 million euro. It will not be difficult at all to agree with LDK about it. LDK rather belongs to the continental Europe right wing; it resembles the German CDU and CSU rather than the British or the American conservative parties,” Kurti highlighted.
Regarding Specialist Chambers and possible indictments it might file, Albin Kurti said that Vetëvendosje has continuously opposed it.
Kurti stated that although they cannot abolish the Specialist Chambers, they will make it unnecessary by empowering local courts.
“PDK has continuously supported it, with some exceptions, and now the Specialist Chambers is a constitutional category. It is regretful that we have Specialist Chambers. It can’t be undone, because it requires more than 80 MPs, including Serbs. There have been summons for interview, and now there is some silence, probably because of the elections. That Court cannot pass at the Strasbourg Court, and I am convinced that anyone who appeals to Strasbourg will win the case. I will find the Specialist Chambers there, but its main justification in its efforts to be functionalised has been the witness issue, and with the new government we will provide appropriate witness protection to our judicial system. I can’t undo the Specialist Chambers, but I will make it unnecessary, because once local courts will reach good level, the Specialist Chambers will not be needed. UNMIK and EULEX did not care about justice for citizens, and the Specialist Chambers found a strange justification, but we will strengthen local courts in order to make the Specialist Chambers unnecessary. I don’t believe that the KLA committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, but some individual might have. If someone killed an old Serb woman in Prishtinë/Pristina in order to take some apartment, it is a crime and it must be punished. And it was not the KLA, because the KLA could have committed crimes also during the NATO bombing, but it did not. So, it is unacceptable that because of some individuals who did it for their own material profit, the praiseworthy history of KLA and our state as a Republic suffers,” Kurti said.
According to Albin Kurti, the national unification of Albanians cannot happen in the European Union.
Vetëvendosje leader said that if he becomes the Prime Minister he will respect Kosovo’s symbols.
“As the Prime Minister, I will respect symbols of the state, for which I have my own remarks. I will not have it [the flag] only in international meetings, but I will also have it in meetings with Albania, but the substance will be the priority for me. This means that in meetings with the Government of Albania, it will not be noted on which side the flag was on, but we will have agreements not for the camera, but for implementation. The topics that I will tackle with Prime Minister Rama, besides the Gjakovë/Djakovica-Shkodër axis, are the common market, the common civil registry, registry of businesses, joint government committees on foreign affairs,” he said.
Regarding the national unification, Kurti said that it cannot happen in the EU, while the idea of a federation may exist.
“I cannot say that national unification happens in the EU. There I join the Danes, Austrians and Spaniards. Our unification must happen here. I would use Arbën Xhaferi’s phrase ‘The historic intention of Albanians for unification’. We do not choose unification, but it chooses us. We are just as we are Albanians for the intent of this unification. There is no other nation where there are men named [Bashkim] Unification. There are also men named [Flamur] Flag. This historic intention is what makes us. On the other hand, Ukshin Hoti has the correct thesis that the national unification and the European union do not replace nor they exclude each other. Third, I would add that Kosovo and Albania need to come closer, to integrate toward unification and on the idea of a federation. Like Germanys, with decentralization of institutions. We would have the Institute of History in Prizren, for all of our people. The University of Arts in Pejë/Pec, the one of minerals in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica; the one of Tourism in Vlorë, or Durrës… The Constitutional Court in Shkodër,” he stated.
According to him, the idea of President Hashim Thaçi to correct the border with Serbia was also the idea that “since the state is failing let us then join with Albania”.
“I do not believe that unification is done through failure, but through success. Here I am exactly the opposite of the President. He used to say that this country cannot be done and there is no hope, and consequently let us return the gift to [Aleksandar] Rankovic as he used to say and join Albania. I think the opposite, Kosovo’s success unifies us with Albania, not the failure,” he added.
