Xhafer Tahiri

Xhafer Tahiri (born 15 August 1983) is a politician in Kosovo.[lower-alpha 1] He was a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo from 2013 to 2014 and was the mayor of Vushtrri (Serbian: Vučitrn) from 2017 to 2021. Tahiri is a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo (Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës, LDK).

Early life and career

Tahiri was born in the village of Donje Stanovce (Albanian: Stanoc i Poshtëm) in the municipality of Vučitrn (Albanian: Vushtrri), in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Pristina Faculty of Law in 2004, earned a master's degree the following year from the University of Bologna in Italy, and has worked toward a Ph.D. at the law faculty of the University of Graz in Austria. Tahiri has lectured at Haxhi Zeka University in Peja and now works as a lecturer at the University of Pristina.

He was the director of the department for legal affairs and international relations in the office of Kosovo's presidency between 2006 and 2016 and was a member of the supervisory board for Kosovo's Anti-Corruption Agency from 2007 to 2009.[1] After Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, he served on a committee reviewing border demarcation issues between Kosovo and Macedonia (now North Macedonia).[2] He was also a representative of the Kosovo president's office on the Consultation Council for Minorities.[3]

Politician

Tahiri became active with the LDK's youth organization in the 2000s and served as its president from 2009 to 2012.[4] The party experienced serious divisions in late 2011; as a supporter of former party president Fatmir Sejdiu, Tahiri briefly saw his standing fall in the party and was not re-elected to its youth forum in Vushtrri.[5]

Assembly member

Due to his position as chair of the LDK's youth wing, Tahiri was given the thirty-fifth position on the party's electoral list in the 2010 Kosovan parliamentary election.[6] The election was held under open list proportional representation, and Tahiri finished in thirty-first place among the LDK's candidates.[7] As the list won twenty-seven seats, he was not initially elected. He did, however, receive a mandate on 26 December 2013 as the replacement for another party member.[8] In the assembly, Tahiri was a member of the public finance oversight committee.[9] The LDK served in opposition during this time.

Tahiri was again included on the LDK's list in the 2014 Kosovan parliamentary election, this time in the sixty-seventh position.[10] He finished in fifty-sixth place among the party's candidates; the list won thirty mandates and he was not re-elected.[11]

Mayor of Vushtrri

Tahiri was elected as mayor of Vushtrri in the 2017 Kosovan local elections, defeating Ferit Idrizi of the rival Democratic Party of Kosovo (Partia Demokratike e Kosovës, PDK) in the second round. He served as mayor of the municipality for the next four years.

In 2020, Tahiri opposed the LDK's decision to remove Vjosa Osmani from the party leadership.[12]

He was defeated by Idrizi in the 2021 local elections in a rematch from four years earlier.

Electoral record

Local
2021 Municipality of Vushtrri local election
Mayor of Vushtrri[13]
Candidate Party Votes  % Votes  %
Ferit Idrizi Democratic Party of Kosovo 10,247 34.81 13,414 53.19
Xhafer Tahiri (incumbent) Democratic League of Kosovo 9,956 33.82 11,806 46.81
Arsim Rexhepi Lëvizja Vetëvendosje! 7,667 26.04
Ademi Mensut Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 565 1.92
Ergin Sunguri Turkish Democratic Party of Kosovo 436 1.48
Albert Maxhuni Social Democratic Initiative 322 1.09
Jeton Salihu Jeton Salihu 245 0.83
Total valid votes 29,438 100 25,220 100
2017 Municipality of Vushtrri local election
Mayor of Vushtrri[14]
Candidate Party Votes  % Votes  %
Xhafer Tahiri Democratic League of Kosovo 7,842 25.64 15,122 54.24
Ferit Idrizi Democratic Party of Kosovo 10,184 33.29 12,758 45.76
Besim Muzaqi Lëvizja Vetëvendosje! 7,679 25.10
Nasuf Aliu New Kosovo Alliance 2,442 7.98
Lutfi Bilalli Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 1,591 5.20
Abdullah Vojvoda Initiative for Kosovo 852 2.79
Total valid votes 30,590 100 27,880 100

Notes
  1. The political status of Kosovo is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Kosovo is formally recognised as a sovereign state by 101 UN member states (with another 13 states recognising it at some point but then withdrawing their recognition) and 92 states not recognizing it, while Serbia continues to claim it as a part of its own territory.

References
  1. PROFILI I KRYETARIT, Archived 2021-04-20 at the Wayback Machine, Municipality of Vishtrri, accessed 14 January 2022.
  2. "Joint committee on Kosovo-Macedonia border demarcation begins talks," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 3 April 2008 (Source: Text of report by Kosovo Albanian privately-owned newspaper Koha Ditore on 2 April).
  3. "Kosovo: Ethnic leaders say president abused office over their representatives," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 8 March 2010 (Source: Text of report by Kosovo Albanian privately-owned newspaper Express on 7 March).
  4. For his election to the position, see "Xhafer Tahiri u zgjodh kryetar i FR të LDK-së", Telegrafi, 12 July 2009, accessed 14 January 2022.
  5. "Paper says ex-president supporters purged from Kosovo party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 4 November 2011 (Source: Text of report by Kosovo Albanian privately-owned newspaper Express on 3 November).
  6. ZGJEDHJET PËR KUVENDIN E REPUBLIKËS SË KOSOVËS 2010 – Lista e kandidatëve të subjekteve politike, Komisioni Qendror i Zgjedhjeve, p. 21. Nura received the sixty-second position on the party's list.
  7. ZGJEDHJET PËR KUVENDIN E REPUBLIKËS SË KOSOVËS 2010 – Rezultatet e të gjithë kandidatëve, Komisioni Qendror i Zgjedhjeve, p. 21.
  8. "Hatim Baxhaku, zyrtarisht deputet në Kuvendin e Kosovës", Radio Sharri, 26 November 2013, accessed 14 January 2022.
  9. Periudha e katërt Legjislative (12.12.2010 - 07.05.2014), Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, accessed 14 January 2022.
  10. ZGJEDHJET E PARAKOHSHME PËR KUVENDIN E REPUBLIKËS SË KOSOVËS 2014 – Lista e kandidatëve të subjekteve politike, Komisioni Qendror i Zgjedhjeve, p. 32.
  11. ZGJEDHJET PËR KUVENDIN E KOSOVËS 2014 – REZULTATET PËRFUNDIMTARE NGA QNR KONAČNI REZULTATI IZ CPR-a, Komisioni Qendror i Zgjedhjeve, p. 31. See also "Tahiri i LDK-së nuk fiton mandatin e deputetit, gjen ngushëllim në Kuran", Telegrafi, 26 June 2014, accessed 14 January 2022.
  12. "LDK remove Vjosa Osmani from party leadership", Prishtina Insight, 20 June 2020, accessed 14 January 2022.
  13. ZGJEDHJET PËR KRYETARË TË KOMUNAVE 2021 – Rezultatet e Statistikat, Komisioni Qendror i Zgjedhjeve, accessed 12 January 2022.
  14. ZGJEDHJET LOKALE 2017 – REZULTATET PËRFUNDIMTARE NGA QNR KONAČNI REZULTATI IZ CPR (First Round), Komisioni Qendror i Zgjedhjeve, p. 28; ZGJEDHJET LOKALE 2017 – REZULTATET PËRFUNDIMTARE NGA QNR KONAČNI REZULTATI IZ CPR (Second Round), p. 18.
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