Isa Mustafa criticises Obadiah: Results 13% required new reflection, leadership model in LDK

A week after receiving a vote of confidence in the LDK Parliament, Lumir Abdixhiku, is being criticised by former party leader Isa Mustafa.

According to the LDK honourary chairman, if the voice of citizens were read in the last elections, Obadiah would not have to stand at the party's helm. He says Obadiah's engagement at the helm of the LDK has not produced results, as in the last elections it received only 13 per cent of the vote.

Mustafa in an interview for Kosovo Press says the current debate within the party should not focus on the personal figure of Lumir Abdixhik, but on the leadership model that the LDK needs to restore citizens' trust and improve the election results.

The former LDK leader stresses that the standard resignation for poor results had already been decided and that ignoring this standard undermines the party's credibility.

I know Obadiah well because I've known him since he was a student. Obadiah is a good worker. He is a diligent worker, a diligent student. I've been told that even in LDK on the ground it worked. It's not that it didn't work. But the problem is how much your job works. How much of your activity is then expressed in the party results. That issue has had to be assessed by Abdixhiku and appreciated by the LDK's organs. For me it's under every level I say now that I should have gone, because in no case... But if he returns where he was, where he took it, that is, he should sit down and analyze why, and analyze himself to see what he can do, Mustafa says.

He recalled that after the 2021 elections, where the LDK marked a decline of about 13 percent and Abdixhik took over the mayor's post, he had declared that the party had read the citizen's voice “and not the voice of the Parliament.

According to him, the LDK Assembly, having a weak election result, would have to analyse and assess better for the steps further.

He said that after the LDK results in 2021, where we hit about 13%, The LDK read the voice of the citizen. He didn't say he read the voice of the House directly, but the voice of the citizen and then I and my associates realized that there must be changes... I can't say here that I had to resign or I shouldn't have, but I had to measure my words before talking, sleep a night, get some rest, consult fellow workers... I think the Parliament was supposed to deal with the score too, not to deal with Obadiah. So to deal with the outcome of the LDK, to assess whether that result is what it needs and what is appropriate for the Democratic League of Kosovo, with which the Democratic League of Kosovo can serve changes in Kosovo”, he adds.

He also took note of his personal example, remembering that he had resigned immediately after the election outcome under 13 percent, without expecting party organ decisions.

I'm thinking for myself, as soon as I've had the score, then there's less than 13 percent, that day, not the next day, but I've given up, not the offer, but I quit. I have notified the members of the leadership that I have completed my mandate in LDK and completed my mandate in all LDK organs, even in the Parliament... Reliance should be linked to field access, to the voice of citizens. Because vote of confidence is not a matter of LDK presidential relations, the LDK Assembly... But now, if the voice of the citizens has come so far that the LDK can still turn it back to 13%, where it was, then this has deserved another approach to the Parliament to reflect, not to download or dismiss Mr. Abdixhiku, but to reflect on what should be done later, how should the LDK act in order to improve the outcome... When I resigned, I gave up because of the result, not because he loved me or didn't want me in the LDK bodies, because if you went into the LDK organs, a completely different attitude would come up”, he claims.

However, Mustafa denies that he has been working in the background for Obadiah's ousting by the LDK leadership.

I didn't run the election. I haven't been in the campaign, I haven't been to an LDK forum. I haven't had any motivation to evolve in that, because I haven't had motives. I'm at the Academy of Sciences now, no way I thought I'd stay in LDK. I had not resigned from all LDK positions. But it has been a good package of lies to sell as true”, Mustafa claims.

He appreciates Abdjik's ambition and announcement of candidacy for Avdullah Hoti chairman, though after passing the confidence vote there was no competition for LDK leader.

According to him, the debate over new and old figures in LDK is useless. While citing Hoti's names, Hykmete Bajrami as an old figure in LDK, Mustafa says reform in this party has not been hampered by the same.

We don't have old and new in LDK. Abdullah Hoti is not old. Abdullah Hoti is the new framework. Hykmete Bajrami is not old. It's a framework, not a new one, but a framework that could potentially contribute better to Kosovo than the LDK. Cameron Shala is also a wonderful writer, is an academic, a member of the Academy of Sciences and is not allowed there in some studios to say that even memory should be excluded from the LDK. And Gazmend Muhajier, I heard. In the end, he says Gaza should go. Now, if I take these people and treat them because I know them, I know all of them well, I've been working with them since 2009, then who are the people who have made opposition to Vetevendosje? Opposition against Vetevendosje has made Agim Veliu... now, if these others are criticised, who has made opposition during this period? He made Hykmet. Hykmete Bajrami has been the main voice of the opposition LDK against the VV, even against power. I'm talking about these who are being criticized and who say these are blocking reforms. Reform may be hampered if the position is criticised, if lasting remarks are given; no one can deny”, Mustafa says.

In addition, one of Isa Mustaf's most crucial criticism of the current LDK leadership relates to the party's ideological orientation.

According to him, the LDK has identity crisis and left slide and imitation of the Vetevendosje Movement.

He said the LDK in the December 28th election campaign has lost its identity as a centre-right party, trying to compete with Vetevendosje on the grounds of social populism.

I hear they all come out and say, “We are Rugovista, we're right” First we need to have it clear that the LDK is not the right party. The LDK is the centre-right party. The rightist party differs greatly from the centre-right party... Besides, it's not allowed to go out and impress anyone to say, “I'm Rugovist”, when you see him talking about issues, he's talking about social aid, he's talking about Albin Kurti's going to raise minimum wages to 500 euros, we're going to raise 700. And then you, screech, right, or center right, but you're developing politics on your left. So in this respect... The campaign, made by the LDK, was made as a litcitation, as if in the licim, with the VV. Because the VV has said something, made an offer of itself social, the LDK has tried to do a little bit on it, PDK's even higher. So the whole opposition has imitated Albin 18x5>, Mustafa concludes.