Kosovo’s Parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi said today he was against constitutional amendments for reserved seats for minority communities. After the meeting of the parliament presidency, Krasniqi said the completion of election reforms requires readiness by leaders of political parties.
“I think parliament cannot resolve this issue because decision-making is in the hands of leaders of political parties represented in parliament. Therefore, readiness by political parties and their leaders is needed to complete election reforms,” Krasniqi said.
Krasniqi said the issue of reserved seats should not be part of the Constitution. “There is no reason why we should change the Constitution about this.”
LDK parliamentary group chief Ismet Beqiri said his party is against an extended mandate for reserved seats. “The LDK does not agree with the idea of extending for another mandate or two the reserved seats,” he said. “We said it before but let me repeat it: we see no reason why reserved seats of minority communities should be extended for another mandate or more. This is the position of the LDK and we will stick to it, we will not vote in favor of extended mandates. We will not accept amendments in the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. Amending the Constitution is dangerous, unnecessary and unacceptable, because Kosovo is a country that guarantees the highest level of liberties and rights to minority communities.”
Beqiri also said the LDK prefers parliamentary elections to be held in June. “As far as elections are concerned, we suggested the month of June but there is no decision yet. The decision on this is up to the President of Kosovo,” Beqiri added.
