Although elections for the leadership of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) are scheduled for 2027, three contenders have already made their intentions public. Përparim Rama, Arben Gashi and Hykmete Bajrami have expressed their willingness to run for the party leadership.
For political analyst Milazim Maraj, this competition is a welcome and necessary development for the future of the LDK. Speaking to the newspaper “Bota sot,” he said the presence of several candidates should be seen as a step toward the democratization and revival of the party, rather than as an indication of internal conflict.
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The first to formally announce his candidacy, several weeks ago, was Pristina Mayor Përparim Rama. During this week, the LDK’s two members of parliament, Arben Gashi and Hykmete Bajrami, also announced their intention to take over the party’s leadership.
On Wednesday, Gashi announced that he would participate as a candidate in the next internal party elections. Speaking on Kanal 10, he said he was convinced that he met the requirements to enter the race.
In explaining his decision, the lawmaker highlighted ambition, profile and a program as the foundation of his candidacy. Although the LDK has not yet entered the stage of determining candidates, he believes the time has come to assess the possibility of taking responsibility for leading it.
Gashi also linked his position to the considerable time he has spent in politics and the contribution he has made. According to him, it is now necessary to consider how the LDK and Kosovo can be improved through joint engagement, while he said he could express his readiness to run openly and clearly.
The following evening, Thursday, Hykmete Bajrami confirmed on the “Pressing” program that she would seek the position of party chairwoman. The lawmaker said her interest in taking on this responsibility would be accompanied by entering the race, regardless of when the internal elections are held, as their date has not yet been set.
Thus, Bajrami became the third name to publicly announce an ambition to lead the LDK.
Commenting on these candidacies, Maraj stressed that competition in a democracy encourages progress and broadens the range of choices. He noted that there is still time before the 2027 elections and therefore did not rule out the possibility that other contenders could join the list alongside Arben Gashi, Hykmete Bajrami and Përparim Rama.
According to the analyst, interest in leading the party is positive in itself. However, he believes the process of electing the party chair should have taken place much earlier, since delays and the way the LDK has been led over the years have exacted a heavy cost.
In Maraj’s view, the party’s decline began in the period immediately following the death of former President Dr. Ibrahim Rugova. According to him, the problems of that time continued to deepen under the leaders who followed.
He believes that Dr. Fatmir Sejdiu failed to conclude a single party assembly without clashes, which for the LDK were serious and entirely unexpected events. He describes Isa Mustafa’s rise to the party leadership as having been achieved almost by stealth, considering it a continuation of the internal disintegration of a force that had united Albanians inside and outside Kosovo.
Maraj recalled that the LDK had a clearly defined political philosophy and played an important role both in organizing Albanians and in building Kosovo’s state institutions. Today, in his assessment, it is struggling to establish a stable internal organization.
For precisely this reason, the analyst rejects the interpretation of multiple candidacies as a sign of division. He argues that clashes emerged when the opportunity for genuine democratic competition was lost, not as a result of opening up the race.
In this context, Maraj also mentioned “The New Way,” which, he said, failed to win the electorate’s support as an alternative form of leadership. According to him, after the vote, the candidates will determine their positions and accept the place assigned to them by the number of votes they receive.
As for the three declared contenders, he believes all of them possess the intellectual capacity to lead. All three also have political experience, although not to the same degree.
For Maraj, however, what will be decisive is each candidate’s vision for the LDK and the objectives they seek to achieve while leading it. He warned that any attempt to centralize politics within the party would fail, referring to the experience of the elections in question and developments to date.
The analyst does not see the solution simply in replacing the party chair. According to him, broad democratization is needed, beginning at the LDK’s grassroots, including the reorganization of its structure and restoring its previous way of functioning.
He believes that only such a competitive process can produce positive results and take the LDK and Kosovo where they need to be. To support this change, Maraj said, the party has intellectual and professional resources in every field.
He also singled out the younger generation, which wants to see its future in Kosovo but is currently failing to find the necessary prospects. This generation, Maraj said, has the ambition to build a modern state, with the support of allies willing to invest in a peaceful and democratic Kosovo.
In his assessment, democratic competition is not only necessary but represents the only opportunity to change the situation within the party. As part of this process, candidates must be given equal space to demonstrate their abilities, vision and alternatives, with which they seek better results for the LDK and Kosovo.
According to Maraj, the painful experiences the LDK has endured since the death of Dr. Ibrahim Rugova should serve as a lesson for future leaders at every level.
Another condition he sets for this process is the preservation of unity and mutual respect. The analyst called for all members to be included, regardless of their preference for one candidate or another, so that no group is left feeling excluded from the elections.
For Maraj, every female and male member of the LDK matters and deserves respect. He considers respect to be part of the party’s political philosophy, which has delivered results even during periods when hopes of success were lacking.
According to him, democratic elections will give every group believed to exist within the LDK the opportunity to find its place, regardless of ambitions that may have exceeded normal limits. The final word must belong to the members through their vote.
In conclusion, Maraj stressed that the LDK’s goal must remain the construction of a democratic Kosovo where citizens have prospects. He linked political success to social well-being, saying that the pursuit and creation of a happy life in Kosovo requires understanding that personal happiness is possible only among happy people. He sees this as the meaning that the Democratic League of Kosovo must embody.
