Skopje, 31 January 2024 (MIA) – The leader of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), Ali Ahmeti, in an interview for the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), spoke about the meeting between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the leaders of the opposition parties of the ethnic Albanians in North Macedonia. Ahmeti said Kurti should openly state if his party, the Self-determination Movement, would participate in the elections in North Macedonia, but he said he believes that the Albanians in the country don’t need many political parties.

“There is nothing bad about their meeting, but what Mexhiti said doesn’t correspond to the statement made by Kurti in Skopje, in which he said the Self-determination Movement wouldn’t participate in these elections. If there is a strategy to camouflage things then this isn’t good, nothing prevents us from stating things openly,” said Ahmeti.

Asked if Self-determination’s participation in the elections in North Macedonia would have an effect on the results, Ahmeti said it wouldn’t because, according to him, “the Albanian electorate is fairly defined in Macedonia”.

“Currently, if we examine studies and analyses, DUI is the winner of these elections even before they are held, and the Macedonian and Albanian political parties know this, as well as the ethnic Macedonian and Albanian opposition. I have never been let down by the predictions and studies made by experts. But time will prove this,” said Ahmeti.

The DUI leader said there isn’t any enmity between him and any other political party regardless of whether it’s in Kosovo, Albania or North Macedonia, but, according to him, the Albanians in North Macedonia don’t need many parties.

“The Albanians in North Macedonia don’t need 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 parties, because the more parties there are, the less important the Albanians will be,” underlined Ahmeti.

In response to a remark that Talat Xhaferi is currently being seen as a caretaker prime minister, the DUI leader said the official documents don’t recognize such a formulation, and that the term ‘caretaker’ is only used to soften the position of the Macedonian public.

In the interview, the DUI leader voiced regret over the fact the opposition parties of the Albanians in the country did not participate in the “historic act” of Xhaferi’s election as prime minister.

Photo: MIA Archive