Vetevendosje’s Albin Kurti and 46 Candidates Not Eligible to Run in Kosovo Parliamentary Election

The leader of Levizja Vetevendosje (Self-determanition Movement), Albin Kurti has not been certified to run in upcoming general election set to be held on 14 February this year. Subsequently, he will be removed from the list of the Vetevendosje candidates, sources within the Central Election Commission (CEC) told Gazeta Express on Wednesday.
Kurti was found guilty in January 2018 of releasing tear gas in the Parliament chamber in 2015 and a court in Pristina has handed down a suspended jail sentence. In addition to Kurti the CEC has not certified 46 other candidates from lists of all political parties who were convicted by courts in the last three years.
Kosovo citizens will go to polls for the second time in one and a half years. The decision was taken by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo on 22 December. The Court ruled that the country must hold snap election because parliament’s confirmation of the LDK-led Government in June 2020 only passed because of an invalid vote by an MP who was convicted of fraud with a final court’s decision. A group of the Vetevendosje MPs filed a motion in the Constitutional Court to challenge the legitimacy of Etem Arifi, an MP of the Ashkali Party for Integration. He was found guilty of fraud charges and was convicted to 15 years imprisonment with a final court’s decision. Despite court’s ruling Arifi was certified as an MP and voted the establishment of the Government led by Avdullah Hoti.
The Constitutional Court in its judgment said that individuals convicted of criminal charges with a final court’s decision in the last three years, are not eligible to run in the election or win a seat in the Parliament. /argumentum.al