Guri: LDK will not vote for Self-Determination’s government

Member of Parliament from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Paris Guri stated that his party will not enter into a coalition with the Self-Determination Movement, citing as the main reason the poor governance of the movement led by Albin Kurti, Ekonomia Online reports.

“We received several invitations to join a coalition with the Self-Determination Movement from the very first steps toward forming the Assembly. We rejected all of them, because we believe that the Democratic League of Kosovo is not ready to govern together with Self-Determination, given that during the past four years they have mismanaged all ministries and all departments. Therefore, this time we will not participate in a joint government, nor will we vote for a Self-Determination-led government,” Guri said in an interview with Ekonomia Online.

He noted that LDK has not yet received an official invitation from Self-Determination for talks, but even if it did, the party would reject it, just as it had done with previous offers.

“We haven’t received an official invitation. There have been several public calls from Self-Determination to LDK for a possible coalition between our parties, which we have also publicly rejected, because we believe that such a coalition would not be right. We differ greatly. One of LDK’s main goals is maintaining relations with our international allies, while they, over the past four years, have seriously damaged Kosovo’s interests in those relations and brought sanctions upon the country. We will not contribute to the continuation of such a government. There were two or three public offers, and we publicly rejected them,” Guri said.

Speaking about earlier invitations, Guri added that LDK never even wanted to hear Self-Determination’s offer.

“We weren’t interested in hearing their offer. That is why we didn’t attend any of the meetings to which they invited us to discuss it, because this is not a matter of offers or interests, but a matter of what’s good for Kosovo. That’s why we refused those invitations,” he said.

Guri bases his position on the differences that, as he says, exist between the two parties.

“The first obstacle is Self-Determination’s inability to govern the state. Over the past four years, Kosovo has declined in terms of the economy, international relations, agriculture, culture, youth, every sector they managed. Every ministry has been plagued by major corruption scandals and serious failures, and there has been no progress in economic or urban development. That is the main barrier preventing LDK from entering a coalition with Self-Determination,” Guri emphasized.

He added that Kurti now has the opportunity to prove the truth about how many MPs actually support his government.

“Since April 15, when the session for constituting the Assembly was convened, the Self-Determination Movement has been repeating every 48 hours, like a song, that they have the numbers for a government, but not for the Assembly. Once LDK confirmed that everything was constitutional, we enabled them to form the Assembly. Now it’s time for them to prove to us and to the citizens whether it’s true or whether they were lying every 48 hours when they claimed to have a parliamentary majority for the government. They have ten days left,” Guri said.

The LDK MP, whose party placed third in the parliamentary elections held on February 9, believes that new elections are now almost inevitable.

“I think elections are practically unavoidable, because I don’t see any will on the part of Self-Determination to form a government. As I said, all those statements were just food for their electorate, not anything concrete,” the MP concluded.

On October 11, based on her constitutional authority, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani signed a decree nominating Albin Kurti as the candidate for forming the Government of Kosovo.