Former Kosovar prime minister and boss
of the left-wing party Vetevendosje (self-defense), Albin Kurti, will not be allowed to run for a seat in the parliamentary elections on February 14th. This is what the Supreme Court decided today. The same decision applies to Kurti’s party colleague, former Justice Minister Albulena Haxhiu. Both had been sentenced to a conditional sentence in September 2018.
The occasion was the protests in parliament in 2015, when Kurti and several former Vetevendosje MPs repeatedly sprayed tear gas in parliament. Two other Vetevendosje MPs, whose candidacy was also questioned by the state electoral commission, are allowed to remain on the list of candidates by decision of the court. It has been more than three years since she was sentenced.
By decision of the Constitutional Court, people are not allowed to appear on lists of candidates who have had problems with the judiciary in the past three years. The state election commission announced on January 20 that a total of 47 candidates on 15 of a total of 28 candidate lists were in dispute. The Vetevendosje, which expects a victory in the upcoming ballot box, appealed against the decision. Kurti is again her prime ministerial candidate.
