The man who is the frontrunner to be Kosovo’s next prime minister is a 45-year-old politician and former independence activist whose 2018 conviction for setting off a tear gas canister in parliament has seen him barred from running in elections on February 14.
Due to the quirks of Kosovo’s electoral law, it is expected that Albin Kurti will still be able to serve as prime minister if - as expected - his Vetëvendosje, meaning “Self-Determination”, movement sweeps the polls this week. It is currently polling at between 40 and 50% of the vote.
It will not be the first time that Kurti has held the post. In 2019, Vetëvendosje formed a governing coalition with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) which lasted just 50 days before LDK leader Avdullah Hoti brought a vote of no confidence in Kurti over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kosovo court bars ex-prime minister from running in election
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Pozivi Kvinte na Kosovu skoro uvek imaju efekta
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Kosovo bans opposition PM candidate from running in Feb 14 election Reuters 1/26/2021
PRISTINA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Kosovo’s election commission on Tuesday barred the leader of the biggest opposition party from running in a national election on Feb. 14 that it is expected to win due to a court conviction he received in 2018.
The court handed Albin Kurti, leader of the nationalist party Vetevendosje, an 18-month suspended jail sentence in 2018 for releasing tear gas in the parliamentary chamber to halt a debate on a deal with Belgrade that granted more autonomy to municipalities where ethnic Serbs form a majority.
Kosovo’s Constitutional Court ruled in December that nobody who has been convicted of a crime in the past three years can run for parliament.
What’s new? Efforts to resolve the long-running dispute between Kosovo and Serbia over the former’s independence have foundered. EU-led talks brokered agreement on technical issues but have struggled to address core political questions. Washington’s mid-2020 mediation effort fell apart when Kosovo’s president had to step away because of war crimes charges.
Why does it matter? The dispute freezes Kosovo out of the UN and many other international bodies, ensures that both countries are barred from EU membership, leaves minority communities at risk and constitutes an impediment to regional security. Resolving the dispute would be a boon for stability in the Western Balkans and Europe.