Democratic Party of Kosovo

Serbs have presidential candidates in 11 local governments.
Polling stations were closed at 7 p.m.
Prime Minister of the so-called Kosovo, Albin Kurti, was locked in offices and did not appear before reporters, although they waited for him for several hours for a statement regarding the latest information on local elections in Kosovo and Metohija.

Kosovo was shocked on Wednesday when Astrit Ademaj, a candidate to be mayor of Peje/Pec from the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and a former mayoral candidate from the same party for Decan/Decani municipality, Blerand Kadrijaj, were killed in an armed incident at around 8.15pm.

Kadrijaj ran to be Decan/Decani mayor in the 2017 local elections.

Two women cross the main bridge of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, 3 September 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

On Friday, Erden Atiq, a local Vetevendosje leader in mainly Serb North Mitrovica, spoke about a potential agreement between the Albanian parties to field a single mayoral candidate for the October 17 local elections.

Kosovo's Special Prosecution has filed an indictment against former Minister for European Integration Dhurata Hoxha and four current and former officials of the ministry over a contract that saw budget money spent on a Paris-based PR company that promoted Kosovo's "territorial modification" as a way to solve the Kosovo- Serbia dispute two years ago.

After two of its former leaders went to stand trial in The Hague, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK wants to revive its fortunes by choosing a new figurehead who can improve on its recent poor performance in elections.

Ahead of the expected resumption of the stalled dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008, Kosovo leader Albin Kurti is coming under domestic pressure to get the United States involved in the European Union-facilitated process.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has dismissed 12 ambassadors acting on a proposal by the Foreign Ministry to recall all the country's politically appointed ambassadors.

"President Osmani has acted in accordance with the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the President's office told BIRN.

Abelard Tahiri, the head of Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK's parliamentary group, called on Thursday for the dismissal of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gervalla because she said in 2016 that she was willing to provide evidence material to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

Gervalla-Schwarz was born in North Macedonia capital, Skopje, in 1971, when it was still part of socialist Yugoslavia. She spent her early childhood living between Skopje and Pristina, where her father, Jusuf Gervalla, was a well-known writer, singer and artist.

An opposition Kosovo MP has called on the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, to open vaccination centres for Kosovo citizens at a time when Kosovo has one the lowest COVID vaccination rates in Europe.