Ten years ago, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, was elected President of Kosovo in the third round of voting amid high political tensions on February 26, 2016.
He won 71 votes in the third round, after failing to secure the required two-thirds majority of MPs in the first two rounds. His election was strongly opposed by opposition parties, which twice disrupted the session by throwing tear gas.
In the first part of the session, opposition MPs, one after another, spoke against Thaci’s election as president, accusing him and the then–Prime Minister Isa Mustafa of actions harmful to Kosovo. In their debates, they emphasized the agreements reached in talks with Serbia, as well as the agreement on the border demarcation with Montenegro.
Opposition MPs expressed suspicion that presidential candidate Hashim Thaci may have made new concessions to the Serbian List in exchange for their votes in favor of his election.
While the voting rounds were taking place, outside parliament police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse groups of protesters who threw petrol bombs in opposition to the process of electing Kosovo’s new president. At least 11 police officers and one protester were injured during the clashes.
Hashim Thaci assumed the office of president on April 7, 2016, after taking the solemn oath before the Assembly of Kosovo.
Before becoming president, Thaci served for one year as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2014–2015), as well as Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo for two terms (2007–2014).
Thaci was the first chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo and was repeatedly re-elected as party leader until his resignation on February 26, 2016, before being voted president of Kosovo.
Hashim Thaci declared Kosovo an independent state on February 17, 2008. He led Kosovo’s delegation in the Rambouillet talks in February 1999 and was the political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the war years 1997–1999. Thaci was the most voted political leader in the June 8, 2014 elections.
As Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci led the political dialogue between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia, which on April 19, 2013 resulted in the signing of the agreement on the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
For his engagement in peace and stability, in 2014 Hashim Thaci was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by U.S. congressmen and senators, as well as by representatives of the European Parliament.
Thaci’s political career began with his engagement in the Popular Movement of Kosovo (LPK), a political movement aimed at advancing the position of Albanians in the former Yugoslavia.
As a student at the University of Pristina, Thaci became a leader of the Student Movement between 1990 and 1993, a period when the authorities in Belgrade closed Albanian-language higher education institutions, and the University of Pristina operated outside the institutional system.
In 1991, Thaci was elected student pro-rector of the University of Pristina, contributing to the structuring and development of the parallel university education system. Hashim Thaci was one of the founders of the political-military organization, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
From 1997, Hashim Thaci headed the Political Directorate of the KLA. In this capacity, he led Kosovo’s delegation at the International Conference held in Rambouillet, France, from February 6 to 22, 1999. After the war, Hashim Thaci served as Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Kosovo from 1999 to 2000.
Thaci was a member of the Interim Administrative Council (IAC), a joint governing structure of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and Kosovo’s political class, until 2001, when the first post-war parliamentary elections were held in Kosovo.
In October 1999, Hashim Thaci was among the founders of the Democratic Progress Party of Kosovo (PPDK). At the party’s first electoral congress in 2000, the party changed its name to the Democratic Party of Kosovo, and Hashim Thaci was elected its chairman, a position he held until February 26, 2016.
Thaci was a member of the Unity Team that represented Kosovo in the negotiation process led by the UN Special Envoy, President Martti Ahtisaari, which negotiated Kosovo’s political status from 2005 to 2007.
Following the Democratic Party of Kosovo’s victory in the parliamentary elections of November 17, 2007, Hashim Thaci was elected Prime Minister of the Government of Kosovo. On February 17, 2008, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci declared Kosovo an independent state in the Assembly of Kosovo.
Thaci was the first Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo.
On November 5 of last year, Thaci resigned from the position of President to immediately travel to The Hague, due to an indictment against him as a suspect for “war crimes.”
In his final press conference as President, he said he would not allow himself to appear as President of Kosovo in the dock before the International Court.
