Muharrem Shabani

Shabani became an appointed member of the Kosovo assembly in June 1989, shortly after Serbia introduced a new constitution that restricted the province's autonomy. He served as a deputy speaker.[2] In 1990, Albanian representatives planned to introduce a motion declaring Kosovo a republic within Yugoslavia. When the Serbian government pre-emptively shut down the assembly, 114 Albanian delegates met in its courtyard to establish a parallel institution and approve the motion. Shabani read the declaration of Kosovo's republican status and later recounted concerns about the possibility of sniper fire from surrounding buildings.[3] He left Kosovo due to the worsening political situation and lived in exile for most of the 1990s.

Shabani became politically active again in Vushtrri as a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) after the Kosovo War. He appeared in the seventh position on the party's electoral list in the 2000 Kosovan local elections and received a mandate in the municipal assembly when the list won a majority victory with twenty out of thirty-one seats.[4][5] He became mayor in late 2001 and was confirmed in office after the LDK won another a second consecutive majority victory in the 2002 local elections.[6][7]

In 2004, Shabani promised representatives of the Vushtrri's Serb community that his government would reconstruct homes and religious sites destroyed in the 2004 unrest in Kosovo as soon as possible.[8]

The LDK became divided into various factions after the death of its founder Ibrahim Rugova in 2006, and Shabani was among those who ultimately left the party. When Kosovo introduced the direct election of mayors in the 2007 local elections, he sought re-election as the leader of his own "Democratic Union" group. He was defeated in the second round of voting by Bajram Mulaku of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK).[lower-alpha 2]

Shabani later joined the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and ran for mayor under its banner in the 2009 local elections.[11] He was again defeated by Mulaku in the second round.[lower-alpha 3]

He appeared in the twenty-second position on the AAK's list in the 2010 parliamentary election. By this time, assembly elections in Kosovo were held under open list proportional representation; he finished forty-second among the list's candidates and was not elected when the AAK won only twelve mandates.[14] He ran for mayor again in the 2013 local elections and for a third time was defeated by Mulaku in the second round.[15][lower-alpha 4]

Shortly before the 2014 Kosovan parliamentary election, Shabani unexpectedly joined the PDK.[18] He appeared in the seventieth position on a PDK-led coalition list in the election, finished ninety-seventh among the list's candidates, and was not elected when the list won thirty-seven seats.[19] He was later a spokesperson for Kosovo's finance ministry.[20]