The ruling Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) and the opposition Democratic League (LDK) failed to reach an agreement to elect a new president of Kosovo during a meeting on Monday, and the parties warned that this was the last meeting between them.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, LVV leader, Prime Minister Albin Kurti, said that LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku did not accept his offers for an agreement and indicated that he has already written to the leader of the main opposition party, Bedri Hamza of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), about a possible meeting.

"I have to say that the talks were unsuccessful because none of our offers were accepted by the LDK leader," Kurti said, warning that the country risks going to early elections again if the new president is not elected by April 28.

He said that he offered the LDK, in co-government with other partners, to have the Deputy Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and three other ministries.

In another offer, Kurti said he offered the position of speaker of the Kosovo Assembly to the LDK.

"I preferred that Abdixhiku become my deputy, and in this way we can start a new chapter of cooperation between LDK and LVV," Kurti emphasized.

Meanwhile, Abdixhiku stressed that he will not meet with Kurti again after the failure of the talks.

"I tried, I tried, I failed, unfortunately. Now I will return to LDK and I will return to the great mission of uniting the right within LDK," Abdixhiku said after the meeting, reiterating his party's position that one party cannot lead the three main institutions in the country: the Parliament, the Government and the Presidency.

According to him, Prime Minister Kurti insisted that the position of president remain with his party.

Kurti, on the other hand, insisted that he does not want his party to lead the country's three main institutions.

Meanwhile, asked if there is an alignment between LDK and former president Vjosa Osmani, whose mandate expired on April 4, Abdixhiku stated that something like this would be good news for both Kosovo and LDK.

"It is my goal and I will work towards this goal until the last day."

The Kurti-Abdixhiku meeting comes as the constitutional deadline for electing a president will expire on April 28, and if it is not met, then the country will go to new elections.

Possible Kurti-Hamza meeting

Meanwhile, Kurti said he has written to the PDK chairman about a possible meeting.

"I sent a message to the PDK leader, Bedri Hamza, and let's see how it is possible to move forward," Kurti said.

The PDK did not respond to Radio Free Europe's calls for comment.

Asked if he would make a similar offer to PDK, Kurti did not want to say, but added that "the offer for co-government that was made to LDK was exclusive to LDK."

PDK officials have recently said that they are awaiting an official letter from the prime minister for a meeting.

Kurti criticized PDK for demanding in previous talks that someone from the opposition party be elected president without revealing the name of the potential candidate.

He repeated this on Monday, saying: "The PDK has asked me to make a blank political agreement where they propose two candidates and we vote for them."

The President of Kosovo is elected with two-thirds of the votes in the first two rounds or with 61 votes in the third round, but 80 deputies are needed in the chamber for the session to be held.

Therefore, an agreement between parliamentary parties is needed on this issue, given that no party – not even Kurti's ruling party, the Vetevendosje Movement with 57 MPs – has such a large number of MPs in the 120-seat Parliament.

After Vjosa Osmani's term ended earlier this month and the country failed to appoint her replacement, the Speaker of the Parliament, Albulena Haxhiu, was appointed acting president on April 4.

Haxhiu himself called on the parties on Sunday to reach a consensus on the election of the president, emphasizing that the country should not go to extraordinary elections./ REL