Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
A photo has been published showing the mayor of Podujeva, Shpejtim Bulliqi, the former municipal director in Podujeva, Hamdi Jaha, and businessman Ditar Hoti, with the caption claiming that Bulliqi met with Jaha and declared that, in the event of victory in the elections, Jaha would be the deputy mayor of the municipality.
content with this claim was published on September 5 on TikTok, by an account named "lapiktu".
The truth?
Hibrid.info has not found any public statement on this issue from Bulliqi, who is also running for mayor in the October 12 local elections from the ranks of the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV).
Hibrid.info researched the photograph using the automated search program "InVID".
The search results found an article published on August 25, 2021, by the medium "reporteri.net", which, through this photograph, had reported on a meeting between Bulliqi and Jaha (see here).
The article also contains a statement by Bulliqi, who in response to the question about this meeting stated: "Don't ask irrelevant questions. It's none of your business who I hang out with.".
Hibrid.info has also researched through the search engine “Google” for possible statements by Bulliqi regarding the future deputy mayor of the municipality in case of victory in the local elections for the Municipality of Podujeva, but the search has not shown any concrete results (see here).
Such a claim has not been found in the posts on Bulliqi's Facebook account (see here).
In the local elections in Podujevo, apart from Bulliqi, for mayor Four other candidates are running: Baki Feta from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ekrem Hyseni from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Xhemaj Hasani from the Social Democratic Initiative (NISMA) and Isak Shabani from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK).
Analyze:
The claim that Shpejtim Bulliqi has stated that Hamdi Jaha will be appointed deputy mayor of Podujeva Municipality in the event of victory in the local elections is unfounded.
Hibrid.info noted that there is no public statement from Shpejtim Bulliqi stating that Hamdi Jaha will be deputy mayor in the event of his victory and that the photo used is old (from August 2021) and not related to the current elections.
Therefore, based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the content as "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.