The demand for the election of a non-political president is absurd, says the elected MP of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Artan Abrashi.
A day after LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku demanded that the next president be a non-political person, Abrashi declared that the position of the head of the country is political and a person who is not political cannot become president. Meanwhile, he added that there may be different points of view on the issue of the president's neutrality.
The mandate of President Vjosa Osmani ends on April 4, 2026. According to the Constitution of Kosovo, a new president must be elected no later than 30 days before the end of the current president's mandate, which means by March 4, 2026.
Abrashi, in an interview with KosovaPress, asks the current president Vjosa Osmani, but also all candidates who have ambitions for head of state, to start a campaign to receive support from the deputies of the Kosovo Assembly.
"The request in itself is absurd. The position of the president is quite political and we cannot find a person who is not political. Regarding the issue of neutrality, we have different points of view and this... It is legitimate for those who claim the position of president to start a campaign to get support from the deputies of the Assembly of Kosovo, since they vote for and elect the president of Kosovo. There is nothing wrong here even if Ms. Osmani engages in this direction," he emphasizes.
However, Abrashi, speaking about whether or not to support Vjosa Osmani's candidacy for president, says that the Vetëvendosje Movement remains open to all options.
According to him, the current priority is the constitution of the Assembly, the formation of the new government and the voting on the budget for 2026.
"The options remain open. Of course, the issue of Ms. Osmani's candidacy will be addressed, but without our decision-making forums gathering, it is not possible to state an official position of the Vetëvendosje Movement regarding the issue of the president. It is important for us to complete this order of things that I emphasized and then, when it comes to proposing the name of the president, we will all be in the know," Abrashi declares.
In addition, Abrashi is optimistic that as soon as the results of the December 28 elections are certified, a constitutive session will be called soon and on the same day the tenth legislature will be constituted and the new government will be formed.
"There is no reason for delays and procrastination, respectively for postponing the certification of the results. We must wait for the appeal procedure to be completed in this case, if there is any appeal of the results so far. Then the final results should be announced, the certification of the elections should be carried out and then the process of calling the constitutive meeting of the Assembly, the election of the bodies of the Assembly, the election of the President or President of the Assembly and the voting of the Government of Kosovo should immediately begin. This would pave the way for the voting of the budget of the Republic of Kosovo, which is the greatest urgency we currently have…
"Of course, the sooner the better. We have wasted enough time, last year was a lost year for Kosovo due to the political blockade. I hope that very soon we will have the constitution of the Assembly and the vote on the government," he adds.
The Vetëvendosje Movement in the December 28 elections, according to preliminary CEC results, received 51.11 percent of the votes, or 57 deputies.
However, regarding the possibility of a coalition with the LDK, Abrashi says that such a thing has not yet been discussed in the party structures, but adds that together with the minorities they have enough MPs to form a government.
"It's not that we have discussed this issue, but the latest result we received in the December 28 elections gives us a mandate to govern the country without the need to have a co-governance agreement. But it's not that we have decided this matter and we will discuss it in our internal forums. We currently have 57 MPs, enough to have a stable government together with the non-Serb minorities," he says.
Speaking about discussions with non-Serb communities to form a parliamentary majority, Abrashi says that they are in support of forming the Kurti III government.
"It's not that there is official contact, but we are seeing their statements every day. Representatives of parties from non-Serb communities are already declaring their support and voting for the Kosovo government. I consider that there will be no obstacles in this regard," concludes Abrashi.
According to preliminary results of the December 28 elections, the Vetëvendosje Movement has 51.11% or 484,363 votes, which gives it 57 seats in the Kosovo Assembly; the Democratic Party of Kosovo 20.19% or 192,069 votes – 22 seats; the Democratic League of Kosovo 13.23% or 125,834 votes – 15 seats; and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 5.50% or 52,236 votes – 6 seats. /KP/
