Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
Several posts with statements attributed to the vice president of the LDK, Lutfi Haziri, have appeared on the social network "Facebook".
They state that Haziri has declared that the LDK has a candidate for President of the Republic and that the party he represents wants this position.
What is the truth?
Pages like "Minuti Newspaper" and "My Prishtina" (here and here) have published posts with photographs and captions with statements allegedly made by Lutfi Haziri.
"Gazeta Minuti", in the description of a photo story published on February 22, writes "LDK convinced that the President belongs to them, they also want a political agreement", while the caption of the photo says "LUTFI HAZIRI, LDK WE HAVE A NAME FOR PRESIDENT".
The other page, "My Prishtina", has made two posts with the following content: "Lutfi Haziri reiterates that LDK wants the position of President", while in the attached photo they have placed the leader of the LDK, Lumir Abdixhiku, with the text "LUMIR ABDIXHIKU LDK IS NOT AFRAID OF THE ELECTIONS"The post is dated February 21.
In the next post, dated February 22, he writes: "Lutfi Haziri is convinced that the President belongs to LDK, they also want a political agreement", while the attached photo has the text superimposed on it: "Haziri: LDK will return strongly, Vetëvendosje has a majority for the Government, but not for the President".
These posts, as of the time of writing, have attracted a total of around 240 reactions, 465 comments and 7 shares. Based on the comments, most users have taken these posts as true.
Hibrid.info has researched through "Google" and on the social network "Facebook" with the keywords "LUTFI HAZIRI PRESIDENTI LDK", limiting the search period to the last week, but the statements claimed by the aforementioned pages do not appear in any credible source of information.
A statement by Haziri on the issue of the President of the Republic was found and published on February 20 in the lobby of the Kosovo Assembly, where he stated to the media:
"LDK is for a dialogue regarding the issues of the President, dialogue between political parties, and we have offered cooperation. Of course, cooperation on behalf of LDK is always the issue, not about anything else, because dialogue is what leads to reaching a consensus or an agreement as broad as possible."
"No candidate who is not proposed by the LDK, and supported according to an agreement by the LDK, has a vote for anyone." (here)
These statements by Haziri do not support the claims made by the aforementioned sites.
Analyze
Two Facebook pages have made several posts claiming to be statements by LDK deputy leader Lutfi Haziri.
They claim that the number two of the LDK has said that the party he represents has the name for President of the Republic, and that the Vetëvendosje Movement has the numbers for government, but not for President. It is also claimed that he has said that the LDK wants the position of President.
However, based on online research conducted by Hibrid.info, such statements by Haziri have not been found in any credible source of information. The only time Haziri has spoken publicly about this issue in the last week was on February 20 in the lobby of the Kosovo Assembly, where he never said that LDK has the name for President.
Therefore, based on its work methodology, Hibrid.info considers these publications "Fake News".
Fake news
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.