VLEN Co-leaders Hold Meeting

On Friday, VLEN co-leader Arben Taravari, who heads one of the Alliance for Albanians wings, said that he took no issue with the comment by fellow VLEN co-leader, Tetovo Mayor and BESA President Bilall Kasami, who had said that Taravari’s wing was “a zero”.

“In psychology, there’s a term, ‘lapsus lingua’, when words come from the mouth more quickly than what the brain is able to process. I am sure that that is what happened to Kasami when he said Alliance was a zero and I am sure that he meant nothing bad. We have talked in a continued manner. I hope the best solution possible, one that will not be frustrating for anybody, will be reached”, he pointed out.

Kasami stated that his hope was that the four parties would reach a deal on joint participation in the local elections. Later that day, VLEN’s coordination body held a meeting.

Bekim Qoku said there had been talks related to the local elections. Asked whether Taravari would leave VLEN or not, he said the coalition would continue to be compact and united.

“We talked about the next elections and next meetings. It was in a completely friendly and collective spirit. We will talk in detail about which municipalities we will participate jointly in. So, this was yet another positive meeting in the spirit of cooperation. Absolutely, we are together. We continue together. What remains is talking only on details and how the candidates for municipalities will be distributed. We don’t agree in the best way possible, but that happens within each political entity, including individual parties”, he said.

The meeting was attended also by Self-Determination representatives. Taravari told Kanal 5 the following day that working teams would continue attempts to reach a deal on joint participation in the local elections and that he hoped a deal would be reached soon.