The Central Election Commission (CEC) at its Thursday meeting suspended the political party New Kosovo Alliance (AKR). According to the decision, the party is required to hold its electoral assembly within 45 days; otherwise, the CEC may decide to deregister it from the register of political parties.
However, the acting chairman of AKR, Vesel Makolli, says this does not mean the party will be dissolved.
Makolli told KosovaPress that they had sent a request to the Central Election Commission to extend the deadline for holding the assembly, but it was not approved.
“This is not about dissolution. We had a deadline to hold the electoral assembly at the end of February. Since two rounds of elections—local and national—were held, we could not organize the assembly during that time. We submitted a request to the CEC, but it was not approved, although there were legal provisions that should have made this possible. Since our request was not approved, the party has been suspended until we hold the assembly, which is expected within two months,” Makolli said.
According to him, the reason AKR failed to hold the electoral assembly is related to the election processes that took place in the country during this period.
He announced that the party’s assembly, where the new leadership and the new chairman will be elected, is expected to take place in April.
“We sent a request to extend the deadline for holding the assembly, which must be held every four years. Due to many circumstances, we were unable to do so, and that was our request… The assembly will be held in mid-April or toward the end… In the last elections we ran on the LDK list and we will continue to participate; this suspension does not prevent us from taking part, it only prevents participation as an AKR list, not as we participated in the last elections,” he added.
Meanwhile, regarding the former leader of the party and former President of Kosovo, Behxhet Pacolli, Makolli said he will have a special role in the party even after the new internal elections.
