Mayor of Mitrovica (Kosovo) and president of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities (AKM)
Bajram Rexhepi (1954) was born in Mitrovica, Republic of Kosovo. A surgeon, Mr. Rexhepi graduated from the Pristina University Faculty of Medicine in 1979, and completed post-university studies in Zagreb, Republic of Croatia in 1985. He worked as a general surgeon and endoscopic specialist at the regional hospital in Mitrovica until 1990. During the 1999 war in Kosovo, Mr. Rexhepi joined the Kosovo Liberation Army and he was serving as a field doctor.
After the war, Mr. Rexhepi served as president of the Mitrovica municipality, as well as head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) branch in the town. He became Kosovo's first prime minister in 2002, following general elections in Kosovo in November 2001. Following the second democratic general elections in Kosovo, in 2004, Mr. Rexhepi became a Member of Parliament. He served in this position until 2007.  Following the local elections in 2007, Mr. Rexhepi was elected as a Mayor of Mitrovica Municipality. In February 2008 he was elected President of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities (AKM). Mr. Rexhepi is considered a moderate politician, and he claims one of his most important goals is to enhance ethnic tolerance and reconciliation.