Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
An image is published showing Besian Mustafa, spokesperson for the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and MP for this party, with the claim that he has declared that his party will not remain in the Assembly hall during the election of the country's president.
it CONTENT was published on Friday (February 20) by a Facebook page called "Gazeta Minuti".
What's wrong with this claim?
Mustafa's statement in this content is not presented in full.
Hibrid.info has researched through the Google search engine, using the keywords "besian mustafa" and limiting the search to publications from the last week (see here).
The search results showed an article published by the medium "gazetablic.com", with the title "President's issue, Mustafa: 'We will not stay in the hall without an agreement'" (see here).
This article explains that Mustafa made this statement in an interview on the television show "DPT te Fidani", which is broadcast on "Klan Kosova" television.
Hibrid.info has researched the video publishing platform, "Youtube" and has found Mustafa's interview for this show on the official channel of "Klan Kosova" television, which was published on Friday (February 20) (see here).
Another video material titled "" was extracted from this show.'We will not stay in the hall without an agreement' - Mustafa to the president" (see here).
The information presented in the title of this video matches that of the “gazetablic.com” article. After checking the video, it has been confirmed that Mustafa made the statement presented in its title.
In the video, Mustafa is heard and seen saying: "In principle, we should not be standing in a hall without a political agreement; so, by political agreement we mean that we sit down, talk about principles and about names." (see here).
This means that in the content discussed, Mustafa's position is presented as direct and as a fait accompli, without clarifying that his statement is actually conditioned by the existence of a political agreement.
Presenting the position in this form, as a firm and unconditional statement, may affect the perception of readers, creating the impression of a decision already made by this political entity not to participate in the presidential vote.
This is also confirmed in the content of the comments on the post, in which it is noted that readers may perceive the claim as a final and irreversible decision by the LDK.
Because Mustafa has presented a position on behalf of the entity he represents, hibrid.info has researched further to find other sources that could confirm this position of the LDK.
Hibrid.info found an article published on the portal "dukagjini.com", where an article was published that reported a statement by Lumir Abdixhiku, the president of LDK, given in an interview for this portal's television (see here).
This article confirms the LDK's stance on insisting on an agreement for the election of the country's president.
The mandate of President Vjosa Osmani ends in April of this year. Article 4 of the Law on the President specifies that any citizen of the Republic of Kosovo, who meets the criteria set forth in the same law, by securing the signatures of at least thirty deputies of the Assembly of Kosovo, may be nominated as a candidate for President of the Republic of Kosovo. Deputies may only sign for one candidate for President of the Republic of Kosovo (see here).
Article 86 of the Constitution of Kosovo stipulates that the election of the President shall be by a two-thirds majority of all members of the Assembly. If no candidate receives a two-thirds (2/3) majority in the first two ballots, a third ballot shall be held between the two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the second ballot, and the candidate who receives the majority of all members of the Assembly shall be elected President of Kosovo (see here).
The Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, in point 5 of Article 106, states that for the first and second vote to be valid, at least 80 deputies must participate in the vote, while at least 61 deputies must participate in the third vote (see here).
In the early elections of December 28, the Albanian political entities that gained seats in the Kosovo Assembly are the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) with 57 deputies, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) with 22 seats, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 15, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) with a total of six (see here). As a result, the election of the president after the end of Osman's mandate will not be achieved solely with the votes of one political entity in the assembly.
Analyze:
In a Facebook post, it was claimed that LDK spokesperson and MP Besian Mustafa stated that his party will not remain in the Assembly hall during the election of the country's president.
But, after verifying media sources and Mustafa's public statements, hibrid.info found that Mustafa said: ""In principle, we shouldn't be standing in a hall without a political agreement; so, by political agreement we mean that we sit down, talk about principles and about names."
This shows that Mustafa, in his statement, conditioned the participation of the LDK in the presidential election on reaching a preliminary political agreement.
The content of the Facebook post presented this position as a firm and unconditional decision, which may create the wrong impression among readers that the LDK has already decided not to participate in the vote.
Also in public statements, the party's chairman, Lumir Abdixhiku, has confirmed that LDK's participation in the presidential election process is linked to reaching a political agreement.
For these reasons, based on the work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the treated content as "Manipulation of facts".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.