The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, hosted in a meeting in his office on Tuesday the leaders of the four Albanian parties of North Macedonia, who demanded that the next president of North Macedonia be Albanian.

Albin Kurti’s meeting with Arben Taravari, chairman of the Alliance for Albanians (ASh), as well as the leaders of the European League for Change (LEN), the chairman of the BESA Movement, Bilall Kasami, the chairman of the Democratic Movement, Izet Mejhiti, and the chairman of the Alternative, Afrim Gashi, comes a few months before the parliamentary and presidential elections in the neighboring country.

At the end of December last year, three of the four Albanian parties of North Macedonia that Albin Kurti hosted today in a meeting – Besa Movement, Alternativa and Democratic Movement – announced a joint electoral list for the May 8 elections.

In December, Albin Kurti’s adviser and member of his party Vetëvendosje, Bekim Qoku, who also has Macedonian citizenship and was present at today’s meeting, said that Vetëvendosje will join this list.

According to the Prime Minister’s announcement on Tuesday, the four leaders of the Albanian parties expressed their proposal for “a president of North Macedonia who embodies coexistence between ethnic groups and guarantees the European path of North Macedonia, a president who this time should come from among the Albanians”.

“The topic of the discussion was the social and economic situation of the Albanian community in Macedonia, the need for democracy and stability as well as the improvement and progress of relations between the ethnic communities in that country, something for which Kosovo itself is an example, but also promotes and supports it”, the announcement states.

The current Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovačevski, at the same time chairman of the Social-Democratic League (LSDM), was surprised by this commitment of Vetëvendosje in the elections in North Macedonia.

“I think this does not represent a desired dynamic,” he said on December 25.

Another reaction on January 17 was made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, saying that “the inclusion of the official policy of Kosovo in the political scene of the Albanians in North Macedonia can be reflected in the fragmentation of Albanian politics – tendency driven by external factors”.