Reaching agreement: A consensual candidate for president

A consensual president, who will not be from the ranks of the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo, as a solution to reaching an agreement to establish a ruling coalition between the two parties, is not excluded from the negotiating table.

But while this remains only an alternative to reaching the agreement between LVV and LDK, the two parties have not yet reached a concrete agreement.

In addition to the ruling coalition agreement, the Democratic League of Kosovo is insisting that there be an agreement for the next president to be resolved after the current president's mandate expires in 2021.

At this point, negotiations between LVV and LDK have also been blocked for the ruling coalition.

Lutfi Haziri, deputy chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo, tells Radio Free Europe that with Vetevendosje Movement, talks on all modalities are continuing and that there are no constitutional relations between the two parties

Haziri says all issues are open at the negotiating table, including the issue of a consensus president.

It's on the table. They're all talking about open issues. I cannot say that a conversation is disfellowshipped or accepted. It's a question that remains like moss on the table”, Haziri said.

Although both parties have claimed to have managed to harmonise the governing programme, the division of some dictatorships is still being negotiated, while the most problematic issue remains the position of Kosovo president.

Radio Free Europe has tried to contact Vetevendosje Movement officials, but they have not been accessible. But earlier, Vetevendosje Movement chairmanship member Albulen Haxhiu has declared before the media that the insistence of the Democratic League of Kosovo to have the president's post is unfair.

The request to have the Speaker of the Parliament, president, and, in particular, president of Vetevendosje is unfair”, Haxhiu said.

Haxhiu has earlier told local media that both parties should be flexible and that there is a possibility that the president will become someone who is not part of the Vetevendosje Movement or the Democratic League of Kosovo, but a unifying person.

Mefail Bajqinovci from the Vetevendosje Movement has written on the social Facebook network that the agreement for president should provide principles and criteria for the profile and values the new president should have.

This agreement should be reached after the government is formed. These values, they can't contradict what we're dealing with: remake the rule of law and credulation of state”, Baycinovci wrote.

Talks between the Vetevendosje Movement, such as the first party with mostly votes from the October 6th early parliamentary elections, with the Democratic League of Kosovo, for reaching an agreement on a governing coalition have not yet been closed.

LDK deputy chairman Haziri says the president's issue has not been resolved at the negotiating table.

We are making efforts to find a common way for a president who is elected in the spirit of the Constitution and who the spirit of the Constitution knows as such. But to be honest, it is not just this matter. We have to completely close the package of the deal”, Haziri said.

But is it real to expect the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo to agree on a consensual president?

Political development acquaintance Artan Muhhaxhiri estimates that since the president's issue is resolved in negotiations between political parties, it is extremely difficult for the president to be a personality that is beyond politics.

I think there is no such big political and social burden personality in Kosovo, which would unite the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo, because these two parties have opposing ideological and political positions. Therefore, it is impossible for a personality, which is acceptable to one party, to be acceptable to the other party, in the context of the election of the new Kosovo president”, Muhramiri said.

The last meeting between representatives of the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo, which was held Sunday, has ended without concrete agreements.

Both sides have not detailed what has been discussed within the meeting, but have stressed that the talks will continue towards reaching a joint government agreement.