President of the League of Communists of Kosovo | |
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Albanian: Kryetar i Lidhjes së Komunistëve të Kosovës | |
Type | Party leader |
Member of | LCY Presidency and SAPK Presidency |
Appointer | LKK Provincial Committee |
Term length | Two years, non-renewable (1982–1991) |
Constituting instrument | LCY Charter & LKK Charter |
Formation | 25 July 1937 |
First holder | Miladin Popović |
Final holder | Rahman Morina |
Abolished | 17 July 1990 |
The president was the leader of the League of Communists of Kosovo (LKK), the ruling party of the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo (SAPK) of the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The LKK was the provincial organisation of the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) in Kosovo. Party rules stipulated that the LKK Provincial Committee elected the president. Moreover, the Central Committee was empowered to remove the president. The president served ex officio as a member of the Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) and of the SAPK Presidency. To be eligible to serve, the president had to be a member of the Executive Committee of the LKK Provincial Committee. The 13th LKK Provincial Conference instituted a one-year term limits for officeholders.
The office traces its lineage back to the office of "Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the League of Communists of Kosovo and Metohija", established on 25 July 1937 and elected Miladin Popović to head the Kosovo branch. This body had no distinct rights and was under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Central Committee. The LCY 6th Congress on 2–7 November 1952, renamed the party League of Communists, and the Kosovo branch followed suit and changed its name to League of Communists of Kosovo. On 4 October 1966, the 5th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the LCY 8th Congress abolished the office of General Secretary at the national level and replaced with the office of President. The SKS Central Committee convened a meeting in 1966 that abolished the office of secretary and established the "President of the Provincial Committee of the League of Communists of Kosovo". The reforms passed by the LCY Central Committee plenum strengthened the powers of the provincial branches of Kosovo and Vojvodina and gave more powers to the LKK party leader. The 13th LKK Conference introduced another set of reforms on 26 April 1982, which abolished the existing office and replaced it with the "President of the Presidency of the Provincial Committee of the League of Communists of Kosovo". This office was retained until 17 July 1990, when the League of Communists of Serbia changed its name to the "Socialist Party of Serbia".