Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
"Breaking News: Vjosa Osmani is re-elected President of Kosovo." is the caption placed on a photo of President Vjosa Osmani, published by the page "lajminews.info” on Facebook, February 25.
And in the description, this page wrote that "It is reported that Vjosa Osmani will be re-elected President of Kosovo.".
Why is this content being addressed?
The claim written in the image is not correct. The Assembly has not yet decided on a new president or even a new mandate for Vjosa Osmani.
But, the publication has received around 650 comments by the time of writing, among which it is noticeable that people have congratulated Osman for a second term.
The facts:
The Assembly has not yet elected a new president. Nor has the Presidency, at least as of the morning of February 26, scheduled a session to elect the president (see agenda of the Assembly).
The leader of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Albin Kurti, has met with the leaders of the other two largest parties, Bedri Hamza of the Democratic Party of Kosovo and Lumir Abdixhiku of the Democratic League of Kosovo, to discuss a solution to the presidential issue. No names have emerged from the talks or any announcement of an agreement. It has been announced that they will continue (see here).
Vjosa Osmani was elected president on April 4, 2021 (see hereThe president's term of office is five years.
According to Article 86 of the Constitution of Kosovo, paragraph 2: "The election of the President of the Republic of Kosovo must take place no later than thirty (30) days before the end of the term of office of the current President."
The right to be nominated as a candidate for president is granted to any citizen who secures the signatures of at least 30 deputies of the Assembly of Kosovo. Deputies may only sign for one candidate for president. The election of the president is made by 2/3 of the votes of all deputies. If in the first two votes no candidate receives 2/3 of the votes, a third vote is organized and between the two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the second vote, the candidate who receives the majority of the votes of all deputies (61 votes) is elected. The election of the president in the Assembly is made by secret ballot (see here).
Osmani has publicly expressed his ambition to serve as president for another term (see here).
According to Article 87 of the Constitution, after the end of the first term, the president can be re-elected only once (see here).
So far, there has been no announcement from political actors or other figures that a person has collected signatures to be a candidate for president. Even if you search on “Google” with the words “"Osmani collects signatures for president" There are no credible articles that confirm the claim.
Even searching with the words "Vjosa Osmani will be re-elected president” does not lead to credible articles that confirm the claim.
The claim of "lajminews.info" was published at 17:08, or about half an hour after Murat Jashari stated that he does not intend to take the post of president of the state, following speculation about a name from the Jashari family.
Analyze:
The claim by "lajminews.info" that Vjosa Osmani has been re-elected president of Kosovo is not accurate.
The Assembly has not yet held a session to elect the president, and as of the publication of the claim, as well as the treatment by Hibrid.info, there is no official candidate who has collected the necessary 30 signatures in the Assembly.
Therefore, based on its work methodology, Hibrid.info assesses this claim as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.