Fatmir Sejdiu

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President of Kosovo
Fatmir Sejdiu

Incumbent
Assumed office 10 February 2006
Prime Minister	Bajram Kosumi Agim Çeku Hashim Thaçi
Preceded by	Ibrahim Rugova

Born	23 October 1951 (1951-10-23) (age 56) Pakaštica, Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia, Yugoslavia
Political party	LDK

Fatmir Sejdiu (Serbo-Croat: Fatmir Sejdiju) listen (help·info) (born October 23, 1951) is the second and current President of Kosovo.

He was born in the small village of Pakaštica near Podujevo, in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He served as a professor at the University of Priština, teaching throughout his tenure as a Parliamentarian.

Sejdiu was an early protester against Serbian authoritarian rule and had for many years in his academic office a portrait depicting himself and fellow political party leader Veton Suroi locking arms before the riot police. He has always been widely admired for being honest and fair in all his political dealings.

Due to persisting conflicts between Kosovan separatists and the security forces of Yugoslavia under Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, the Kosovo War broke out in 1996 between the two factions. Accusations of widespread abuse by government forces towards ethnic Albanians in 1999 ignited the second part of the war in which NATO forces intervened and unleashed a bombing campaign against President Milošević. The war ended in mid-1999, and Kosovo was place under a UN Protectorate of autonomy where Ibrahim Rugova became the president of the territory. President Sejdiu succeeded Rugova and became the first president of the country of Kosovo when Kosovo officially declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008.

Fatmir Sejdiu (center left) with members of the Kosovo Unity Team and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Sejdiu served in each of the Presidencies of the LDK as well as serving on the Presidency of the Assembly of Kosovo.

Sejdiu was an influential parliamentarian in the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the party of former Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova. He was elected President by the Kosovo Assembly after Rugova died from lung cancer in early 2006. Sejdiu has won praise from the international community for prioritizing implementation of the UN-endorsed "standards" of good governance and multi-ethnicity.

On July 24, 2006, Sejdiu attended in Vienna the first high-level meeting between the prime ministers and presidents of Kosovo and Serbia to discuss the future status of Kosovo.

On January 9, 2008, Sejdiu resigned from his position as President of Kosovo to run again in the following elections held the same day. This would allow him to start a completely new term with the inauguration of the new legislature, given that there are no term limits established by the Constitution Framework. He received only 62 votes out of 81 needed for his election, and was expected to regain his position only after a third round of parliamentary vote, when a simple majority of 61 votes is required for the election of the president. His opponent, Naim Maloku of the AAK, running with the support of three minor parties, obtained 37 votes in the first round. Sejdiu received one vote less in the second round, while 37 deputies chose Maloku.

Sejdiu was elected in the third round of voting later on the same day.^[1]

Fatmir Sejdiu was one of the authors of the Constitutional Framework of Kosovo in 2001. He speaks Albanian, English, Serbian, and French.

He lives in Priština, the capital of the Kosovo, with his wife Nezafete and their three sons.