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RTK, Prishtina
01 02 2006 BIRN Kosovo held a debate on the political scene in the territory after
the death of President Ibrahim Rugova.
Discussion during the 1 February debate centered on who would fill the
many positions Rugova held: party leader of the LDK, leader of the team
negotiating the province's status and Kosovo's head of state.
To talk about the challenges the LDK faces after Rugova, BIRN invited
the following guests: Agron Bajrami, Chief Editor of Koha Ditore; Berat
Buzhala, Chief Editor of Express; Muhamet Mavraj, Chief Editor of Epoka
e Re; and Genc Kelmendi, head of the newspaper Iliria Post.
Fifteen days of grief kept the political scene in Kosova in silence.
But behind the scenes, talks on who will take over the positions Rugova
held for more then 15 years are ongoing.
First LDK announced that Fatmir Sejdiu would take over as president of
Kosova. Later that day, however, the party withrdew its announcement.
Is there a chance the LDK is open and democratic?
Agron Bajrami said, "The main challenge for LDK would be to choose
the person or people who will replace Rugova in the posts that he held
for so many years".
Fatmir Sejdiu is one of the candidates for the president of Kosovo, but
his bid has to be discussed among party members and approved by the LDK's
leading council.
Berat Buzhala is very skeptical about the proceedings of these talks
within LDK. Until now the LDK was a one-person political party in terms
of decision-making, he said. "As we have seen so far, there has been
no open discussion about important issues within any political party,
as the decision was taken by the leader of the party," Buzhala said.
However, Buzhala added that now there will be a chance for change. The
LDK might be able to discuss an important issue openly for the first time.
Why didn't the LDK discuss earlier?
Genc Kelmendi defended the LDK, saying that replacing a president would
be a long process in any country, and the members of LDK should be allowed
time to discuss this issue in peace.
After all the changes in Kosovo's political arena, the panelists were
not sure if the future president of Kosova will continue to be the head
of the negotiating team.
The international community wants to proceed with the negotiating process.
According to Agron Bajrami, "The international community will put
pressure on the LDK officials to decide, sooner rather than later, who
will be their elected candidate for president".
Choosing a successor in this manner has nothing to do with democracy,
Bajrami said. It's how outstanding issues would be settled in order to
proceed with negotiations, which are a pressing issue for the international
community, he said.
"Although it is undemocratic, the international community will push
for a quick solution on the president, and the most acceptable one for
the opposition, as they can't allow such an important negotiation process
to be dependent only on who the LDK wants to be president and at the LDK's
pace," explained Bajrami.
Muhamet Mavraj from the more militant minded Epoka e Re said LDK officials
made a mistake when they announced, but did not respect, their own days
of mourning.
"LDK is not aware what is going to happen to it," said Mavraj.
"They lost their myth, a person who has led them for so many years,
a person who won the votes from the electorate".
Will the election of LDK's party leader be democratic?
LDK is not used to having debates within the party, but pressure from
the international community is strong, said Buzhala. Therefore, it is
hard to foresee how this process will end. The LDK and the entire political
process in Kosova face big challenges, he said.
According to Bajrami, "Status is no longer the main problem. We
have to see how we will proceed after the status as a state, the functioning
of the political parties. If we continue to have the same problems we
will face extreme, major difficulties. This is one of the main challenges
that I see in the future."
Bajrami said internal democracy in parties like the LDK should be established
in order to prepare Kosovars to govern a state.
Buzhala at the end said that once again the head of United States office
would decide who will be the president and who will be the head of the
government.
Buzhala's opinion reflects the common public perception in Kosovo that
a consensual candidate for the president will be found only with the influence
of international community, and US in particular, due to the popularity
of US in Kosovo. Kosovo leaders will find it hard to agree among themselves
on an adequate person who would be acceptable for the parties in power
and for the opposition at the same time, he said.
At the beginning of 2010 BIRN network published Digging Deeper - A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans, written in cooperation with Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor of professional practice at Columbia University, New York.
