Kosovo’s second largest party Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) has refused to disclose who voted in favor and against the removal of Speaker of Parliament Vjosa Osmani from party leadership positions.
Until Saturday, Osmani was LDK’s deputy chair and member of the General Council. She was removed from both positions for opposing the party leadership.
Osmani voted against the LDK-initiated motion that ousted the government of Albin Kurti, and refused to lead the session wherein Kosovo’s Parliament voted in the Hoti government.
LDK leader Isa Mustafa asked for Osmani’s dismissal, and 70 out of 123 members supported his proposal. Of the 95 General Council members who voted electronically, 16 voted against and 9 abstained. 28 members did not participate.
Mustafa refused to reveal the names and votes of each Council member, arguing that the voting is an internal procedure.
“Voting is an internal democratic process, an individual right of everyone. I can only guarantee the accuracy of the general voting results reported last night,” Mustafa told Koha newspaper.
Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti was voted LDK’s Deputy Chair with 92 votes, after Osmani was ousted from the post.
As a young politician in the country’s oldest party, Vjosa Osmani was the LDK’s most voted MP, and its candidate for Prime Minister during Kosovo’s last elections in 2019, with a total of 176,016 votes, only about eight thousand votes short of the most voted politician in Kosovo, Albin Kurti.
Osmani is among the most vocal opponents of a territorial exchange deal between Kosovo and Serbia.
