Democratic League of Kosovo

But, two days before the congress opened, the LDK Secretary General, Ismet Beqiri, has admitted that Mustafa may stay on - and that there are a number of other interested contenders.

"It is no secret, there are candidates," he told TV Dukagjini on Thursday. "This should be seen as normal. Our aim is for the new LDK team to win the upcoming parliamentary elections," Beqiri added.

Fatmir Hasani, the only ethnic Albanian MP in the Serbian parliament, told BIRN that people living in Serbia's Albanian-majority Presevo Valley are suffering because of poor relations between Serbia and its former province Kosovo.

Scheduled local elections in four northern mainly Serbian districts of Kosovo were thrown into crisis on Wednesday when the Central Election Commission, CEC, failed to certify candidates from the main Serbian party in Kosovo, Srpska Lista.

The candidates did not receive the necessary support from the CEC, meaning their candidacies have been rejected.

The opposition Social Democratic Party, PSD, led by MPs who left the opposition Vetevendosje party in March, is getting closer to the ruling coalition, analysts say - driven by its criticism of the latter's approach to the EU-led talks with Serbia.

A roundtable organised on Wednesday in Kosovo by BIRN Kosovo's show "Jeta ne Kosove" heard local politicians warn that a territorial swap between Serbia and Kosovo could worsen regional instability.

Kosovo civil society group Protestoj [I Protest] has called for a protest on September 5 against President Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and the speaker of parliament, Kadri Veseli.

Kosovo opposition parties have called for an extraordinary parliamentary session on September 4 to put a resolution to a vote which they say will protect the country's territorial integrity amid controversial suggestions of a land swap with Serbia as part of a final deal between Pristina and Belgrade.

After Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said he was willing to report back to parliament on the process of the dialogue with the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, opposition parties say they are not interested in his reports as he has no right to run the process in the first place.

Kosovo opposition parties have said Hashim Thaci is the wrong person to lead the dialogue with Serbia after the Kosovo President called on all political parties, including the opposition, to attend a joint meeting aiming to establish a negotiation team.

Members of the Kosovo parliament will discuss the government's official platform on the dialogue with Serbia during Monday's session.

Ramush Haradinaj's government approved the platform in April, which includes a proposal for President Hashim Thaci to lead the EU-led dialogue with Serbia.