Besim Muzaqi

Besim Muzaqi is a politician in Kosovo. He was the deputy mayor of Vushtrri from 2017 to 2021 and has been a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo since 2021. Muzaqi is a member of Vetëvendosje.

Early life and private career

Muzaqi was born to a Kosovo Albanian family in Mitrovica in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Raised in Vushtrri, he graduated with a master's degree from the University of Pristina's Faculty of Pharmacy, later earning a second master's degree in Food Engineering and Technology. Muzaqi has served as president of the Kosovo Pharmaceutical Association.

Politician

Muzaqi joined Vetëvendosje in 2010 and has served on the party's presidency. He was included on the party's electoral list for the Vushtrri municipal assembly in the 2013 Kosovan [local elections] and its list for the Republic of Kosovo assembly in 2014 Kosovan parliamentary election, although he was not elected on either occasion.
He was Vetëvendosje's candidate for mayor of Vushtrri in the 2017 Kosovan local elections and finished third. His party participated in a local coalition government after the election, and he was appointed as the municipality's deputy mayor in December 2017. He ran for the Kosovo assembly again in the 2019 parliamentary election and was again not elected.

Parliamentarian

Muzaqi was given the thirty-second position on Vetëvendosje's list in the 2021 parliamentary election. Parliamentary elections in Kosovo are held under open list proportional representation; Muzaqi finished in fifty-fifth place among the party's candidates and was elected when the list won fifty-eight mandates. Vetëvendosje won a significant victory overall and afterward became the dominant presence in the Republic of Kosovo's coalition government. Muzaqi serves as a supporter of the administration and is a member of the committee on public administration, local government, media, and regional development.