Kosovo’s Vetevendosje and the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK party agreed on Monday on a joint presidential candidate – a move that could end the country’s long-running political crisis.

Following a meeting between the respective party leaders, Albin Kurti and Lumir Abdixhiku, the latter announced Bekim Sejdiu, a former judge at the Constitutional Court and a former diplomat, as their pick for the vacant post.

“The talks were not easy, but they were exhaustive; we held long meetings and engaged in continuous, quite intense discussions. Both sides were committed to finding a consensus candidate for the president of Kosovo,” LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku told media at a joint press conference with acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti and MPs from the LDK and Vetevendosje.

“Various names were considered during the discussions. Ultimately, we agreed on one name: Professor Doctor Bekim Sejdiu,” Abdixhiku said.

“It is a great mark of trust and a great honour,” 51-year-old Sejdiu, a former Constitutional Court and ambassador, who currently lectures in law, told the press conference.

“Although my ambitions have always leaned more towards the academic and professional spheres, I have – fully aware of the burden and responsibility entailed by the office of the president, and mindful of the current political context in the Republic of Kosovo – placed myself at the service of the republic, its citizens, and our state,” he added.

The agreement is a move towards ending the political deadlock that has paralysed Kosovo since parliamentary elections in June. Parliament has yet to be inaugurated since then, as political parties disagreed over who should be the next president – a position whose incumbent is elected by MPs. Without an agreement, new elections seemed inevitable.

Amid the institutional logjam, the provisional parliament speaker, Avni Dehari from election-winning party Vetevendosje, refused to resume the inaugural session that started on August 6. Vetevendosje also refused to submit a name for the new parliament’s speaker, as it first demanded an agreement with other parties on the election of a new president.

When announcing the deal on Monday, Abdixhiku called for the inauguration of parliament “without delays” and a vote for a new government before the vote for the new president.

In elections in June, Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje won 53 of the 120 seats in the Assembly, putting it well ahead of the PDK, which won 22. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) won 18 seats.

Kurti is likely to obtain a simple majority in the assembly to form a new government by again relying on the support of MPs from ethnic minority communities – Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Turk and Bosniak – plus one of the Serb MPs.

In the presidential election, Sejdiu must receive at least 80 MPs’ votes in the first two rounds of voting to be confirmed in the role. In a potential third round, he would need a simple majority of 61 votes.

Sejdiu is a former judge of the Kosovo Constitutional Court and served as as ambassador to Turkey from 2008 to 2012, and as Kosovo’s consul general in New York from 2012 to 2014.

Since 2002, he has worked as an assistant professor in the Department of International Law at the University of Pristina’s Faculty of Law.

Sejdiu was also the rapporteur judge in the December 2020 Constitutional Court ruling that the government led by the LDK’s Avdullah Hoti was illegitimate because it was voted in with an invalid vote from a MP who had been convicted of a crime.

Most recently, he served as an adviser to then President Vjosa Osmani. Osmani returned to political activity with the LDK after her presidential mandate ended.