Kurti aims for 60 percent, Osmani leads LDK

The incumbent Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has received the green light from the Vetevendosje Movement to run as a candidate to lead the government in the next mandate. The VV leader has said that the political entity he represents is aiming for 60 percent of the votes in the June 7 elections. He has accused his opponents, saying that they want to eliminate him. One of the party lists so far in the opposition will be led by former President Vjosa Osmani. She returned to the top of the LDK list, from which she left six years ago to join Kurti on the political journey.

The Vetëvendosje Movement has nominated its leader, Albin Kurti, as its candidate for prime minister. Immediately after this decision by the party's General Council, Kurti, who is seeking a fourth mandate, of which he has only completed one, said that the political entity he represents is aiming for 60 percent of the votes.

"Tomorrow will be four weeks before the new and extraordinary elections, which come exactly five months after the last elections, when we scored 51% of the votes. They came 10 months after the elections where we won 42% of the votes. So, from February to December we grew by 9%, and if we grow by the same amount from December to June, then we can touch 60%. If we work as we know how, with sincerity and dedication, this is also possible," he said.

Vetëvendosje scored a historic result in the December 28 elections, winning over 51 percent of the vote. However, new elections were called due to the lack of agreement on the president, which requires the participation of at least 80 MPs in the vote, a number that would be reached with the percentage targeted by Kurti and lawmakers from non-Serb communities.

But Kurti has said that even after the elections, cooperation will be sought for a non-partisan president.

"For a new president outside the political scene with integrity and competence, with national values, and they know that this offer of ours is an expression of our openness, which is typical of a democratic entity, but they do not know that the people also know the truth," he said.

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The leader of Vetëvendosje has accused the opposition of being responsible for both the December elections and those to be held on June 7. He said that they have both become a block and created the blockades. Kurti accused them of wanting to eliminate him.

"The opposition is seeking power by blocking progress. This is asking to become the captain of the ship by drilling the bottom of it. They rejected the Speaker of Parliament Albulena Haxhiu, they refused to vote for Glauk Konjufca, the second most voted person in the history of Kosovo, of course they always refuse me, they don't want to look me in the eye and they go on their televisions to say how they wanted to eliminate me by any means," Kurti declared.

At the meeting of the Vetëvendosje General Council, Kurti also spoke about his governance. He referred to the budget increase from 2.4 to 4 billion euros, as well as decisions such as the one on increasing the minimum wage, employment programs, and child benefits.

Abdixhiku is a candidate for Prime Minister, Osmani claims the Presidency

Six years after being dismissed from her positions in the Democratic League, Vjosa Osmani returned as the strongest candidate in the electoral bid of this political entity. In addition to running for the position of president, she will also lead the LDK list, by decision of the General Council, which in June 2020 did not even consider her a member of the Presidency.

"I have proposed that the Democratic League of Kosovo compete with President Vjosa Osmani as a candidate for President of the Republic and at the same time the bearer of our electoral list and with me, the LDK leader, as the LDK candidate for Prime Minister of the Republic. This proposal has been supported and voted in full by the LDK leadership. Today I am presenting this proposal to you before the General Council on behalf of the LDK leadership, for final approval," said LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku at the meeting of the party's General Council.

Osmani will be the 20th on the list.

Following her in the ranking will be the leader of the LDK, Lumir Abdixhiku, who has once again been nominated as a candidate for prime minister.

The approval for both was given by the General Council, which was not compact in numbers despite Abdixhiku's pledge to unite everyone. Some of the key figures were absent: former Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, former party secretary Imri Ahmeti, and the second most voted person in the previous elections, Hykmete Bajrami.

Outside the hall, Abdixhiku said that these names will not be missing from the electoral list.

"Not all LDK people can participate in all meetings, but they are part of the list," Abdixhiku said.

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Before joining the LDK, Abdixhiku declared that a united LDK is the cure for the situation Kosovo is in. He blamed the leader of Vetëvendosje, Albin Kurti, for this and a couple of other elections, whom he said wanted a party-state.

"If a political agreement was requested, we were ready for a political agreement. If institutional stability was requested, we were ready to contribute to institutional stability. If names were requested, we gave you names. If signatures were requested, we gave signatures. Once they started asking for dates, in different colors, signatures, what can we do with these, honestly," Abdixhiku declared.

Abdixhiku said that the LDK's full offer for both the prime minister and presidential candidates does not contradict his criticism of Vetëvendosje, which "intended to seize both positions."

"For the first time in the history of Kosovo, we are not going to elections for the Government, but we are going because of the inability to elect the president. So when we have a problem for the president, what is the point of competing without the people of Kosovo knowing who is the presidential candidate for this race," said Abdixhiku.

Abdixhiku added that his expectations for the result are rational. "The citizens of the Republic have decided," he said.

While he ironized the LVV's goal of 60 percent. "He he, those are wishes," said Abdixhiku.

And a few hours after the "union" was made official, former president Vjosa Osmani stated that citizens were the ones who convinced her to return to the LDK list. In a video published on Facebook, she released messages from citizens calling on her to return to the LDK.

"For months I have walked through every corner of Kosovo. I have been welcomed into your homes. I have heard your troubles. I have seen the disappointments in the eyes of honest people. But above all I have seen one thing that has not yet faded: hope. And everywhere in every village and city, every table and every square you spoke to me with one voice," Osmani said before the citizens' messages for returning to the LDK were broadcast in the video. "I heard you, that's why we are uniting."

"Let's unite our hearts and dreams. Let's all unite," Osmani concluded.

LDK nominees, Abdixhiku and Osmani, will address the citizens on Sunday.

Osmani left LDK in 2019 after the fall of the Kurti 1 government. In the 2021 elections, she ran in coalition with Kurti and VV, and later formed her own political entity, Lista Guxo. After winning the elections, becoming the most voted person up to that time, Osmani was elected president of Kosovo and served until the end of her term, in April of this year. The lack of support for a second term by LVV and the failure to find a name for president led the country to new elections.

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Now she has returned to the LDK list with several other names. In recent days, Osmani has confirmed that part of her political journey will be figures such as: Fahrije Hoti, an activist known for representing the women of Krusha e Madhe after the Kosovo war, as well as former Guxo MPs, Jeta Statovci and Albena Reshitaj.

These will be the third parliamentary elections within 18 months in Kosovo, following those in February and December 2025.