VZCZCXRO6230
OO RUEHAST
DE RUEHPS #0449/01 1441618
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 241618Z MAY 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6148
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0696
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFIUU/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000449 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE, AND EUR/SSA, NSC FOR BRAUN, 
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: CHANGES IN HARADINAJ'S POLITICAL PARTY 
 
 
PRISTINA 00000449  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  Ramush Haradinaj was handily re-elected 
president of the party he founded, the Alliance for the 
Future of Kosovo (AAK), during the party's May 20 convention. 
 Other prominent AAK members lost votes as compared with 
their standing at the party's last convention in 2004, namely 
Minister of Energy Ceku, Minister of Trade Dugolli, and 
former Prime Minister Kosumi.  The AAK is Kosovo's third 
largest political party, but its influence exceeds its size 
because of its position in the governing coalition.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) is 
relatively small, but its Kosovo political footprint spreads 
far and deep.  Created in 2000 by former Kosovo Liberation 
Army (KLA) Regional Commander Ramush Haradinaj, the AAK owes 
its position as junior member of the governing Democratic 
League of Kosovo (LDK)-AAK coalition to Haradinaj's personal 
charisma.  The AAK holds only nine seats in Kosovo's 
Assembly, one mayorship in Decan/i municipality, and received 
only 7.8 percent of the vote in the 2004 general election, 
but has gained practical political authority since 2004 by 
forming a government with the LDK and through that coalition 
securing the post of prime minister.  The party is driven by 
the force of personality of its leader Haradinaj, whose March 
2005 indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for 
the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and subsequent resignation as 
prime minister only increased AAK's public popularity among 
the ethnic Albanian majority.  Members of the AAK not only 
hold Kosovo's premiership but also five of 14 ministerial 
posts (ethnic minorities get three set-aside ministries for 
their leadership). 
 
¶3. (SBU) At the party's fourth convention on May 20, some 
prominent AAK leaders -- including Minister of Trade Bujar 
Dugolli, Minister of Energy Et'hem Ceku and former Prime 
Minister Bajram Kosumi -- lost votes versus their totals from 
the 2004 convention.  Internal elections among convention 
delegates for a 27-member party presidency were conducted 
with open lists by secret ballot with the following results: 
Haradinaj was re-elected as party president with 455 of 479 
votes; Ahmet Isufi (AAK's general secretary) replaced Bajram 
Kosumi as the party,s number two, and Kosumi dropped to 
seventh place.  The top ten vote getters in order: 
Haradinaj; Isufi; Naim Maloku (AAK's member of Kosovo,s 
Assembly Presidency); Jonuz Salihaj (Minister of Justice); 
Ibrahim Selmanaj (Minister of Labor and Social Welfare); 
Gjylnaze Syla (AAK,s Kosovo Assembly caucus leader and one 
of only two women elected to the party presidency); Kosumi; 
Ali Berisha; Arben Qirezi (new AAK member and political 
advisor to Haradinaj and current Prime Minister Agim Ceku); 
and Ardian Gjini (Minister of Environment and Spatial 
Planning).  Dugolli went from 7th to 19th place; Kosovo,s 
Standards Coordinator and new AAK member Avni Arifi rounded 
out the top 20.  AAK internal party statutes also give new 
AAK member Agim Ceku, as Prime Minister, an ex officio seat 
on the party presidency.  After the vote, local press 
speculated that Kosumi's poor showing would presage his 
departure from the AAK; he responded by saying "I haven't yet 
decided." 
 
¶4. (SBU) AAK's general secretary Ahmet Isufi, a former KLA 
commander and Haradinaj loyalist told poloff and polFSN that 
Haradinaj's political party was gaining adherents due to the 
combination of his personal appeal and the uncertain future 
leadership of the LDK, Kosovo's largest party, after its 
founder President Ibrahim Rugova's death in January. 
 
¶5. (SBU) COMMENT.  Personalities dominate Kosovo's political 
scene, political parties have stood for little other than 
Kosovo's independence, and Haradinaj is doing all he can to 
secure his small party's position in the coalition 
government.  In particular, Haradinaj can be counted on to 
use his influence discourage the AAK prime minister from 
removing AAK ministers from office in any reshuffle following 
Prime Minister Ceku's promised performance evaluation.  END 
 
PRISTINA 00000449  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
COMMENT. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  Post clears this message in its entirety for 
release to Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. 
GURIAN