FLASH NEWS
Bedri Hamza elected new leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo
2025-11-17 18:04:56 / KOSOVA
Bedri Hamza was elected the new chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, during the party's convention held on the afternoon of November 17.
Hamza was elected through open voting and there were no votes against him. He had no opponent and his election was made after Memli Krasniqi resigned as party leader days earlier.
Hamza, 62, has served twice as Kosovo's Minister of Finance and for the past four years led the municipality of South Mitrovica.
In the last parliamentary elections held on February 9, he was the PDK candidate for prime minister.
He is the only party official to announce his candidacy to lead the second largest party in the country currently.
But not everyone in the party agreed with the Convention's call five days after Krasniqi announced his resignation last Wednesday.
Enver Hoxhaj, who once led the party as acting chairman, opposed holding the Convention so soon and expressed ambitions to run, but he does not appear to have the necessary support to be part of the race in the first place.
He called for the Convention to be postponed to November 23, saying that more time is needed for a more quality race, and that a democratic party should have more than just a single candidate in the race.
"PDK needs new leadership, not old schemes, it needs a new vision, not a change of roles. This is the moment to pave the way for real change," Hoxhaj wrote on Facebook.
During the convention, he said that the competition is held under unequal conditions, so it is not part of the competition.
"It made the race closed, undemocratic. That's why I requested a one-week postponement of the convention," he said.
Previously, PDK did not respond to Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) questions about whether Hamza would have opponents, and so far, a few hours before the Convention is held, Hamza officially remains the only candidate.
According to the PDK statute, to run, a candidate must have the signatures of 50 party delegates and must submit their candidacy up to five days before the Convention is held.
The PDK aims to bring to power someone who can challenge incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti, whose party, the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV), has been in power since 2021.
Artan Muhaxhiri, a sociologist and political analyst, told Radio Free Europe that, although Krasniqi's resignation was surprising, "it was the right act."
He stressed that the mayoral elections could become an "accelerator of changes in the PDK, if the other necessary conditions are met."
Kosovo could go to parliamentary elections no later than December, given that neither party has the necessary majority, nor the will for co-government, after the February elections.
Hamza pledged reforms to restore PDK "as the main party in the country" when he announced his candidacy last week.
And, if Hamza is elected PDK chairman, which seems inevitable, then he has only one task, according to Muhaxhir.
"To diligently search within PDK structures throughout Kosovo for new people, new personalities, new professionals, and bring them into focus as representatives of a new generation of PDK, because only in this way can a kind of hope be created that PDK can reform and increase its power," said Muhaxhiri./ REL
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