Deputies fail to constitute the Assembly even on the 24th attempt

2025-05-31 11:05:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kosovo Assembly members failed on Saturday, for the 24th time in a row, to constitute the parliamentary composition resulting from the February elections.

Successive failures are occurring despite calls from civil society in Kosovo and the international community for Kosovo to establish new institutions as soon as possible.

For the sixteenth time in a row, MPs did not vote to form a commission to oversee a secret ballot for the new speaker.

The secret ballot was proposed on May 1 by the chair of the session, Avni Dehari, after the candidate of the election-winning party, the Vetëvendosje Movement, for speaker of parliament, Albulena Haxhiu, did not receive the 61 votes necessary to be elected to this position in several open ballots.

The issue of secret voting has been sent for interpretation to the Constitutional Court by the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, with the support of MPs from parties that were in opposition last term.

They argue that it is unconstitutional how the LVV is attempting to have the new president of the legislative body elected by secret ballot, requesting the Constitutional Court to take a "temporary measure to prohibit the holding of sessions, until it addresses this matter as a priority and makes a decision."

In the continuation of the constitutive session on May 31, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Democratic League of Kosovo, AAK, and the Serbian List again refused to propose a name for the formation of the commission, causing the session to be adjourned.

The hearing will continue in 48 hours, namely on Monday.

The constitutive session began on April 15. So far, the deputies have passed two agenda items: the report of the Temporary Committee for the Verification of Mandates and that of the oath of deputies.

But the process has stalled at the third point: the election of the speaker of parliament.

PDK and AAK see Haxhiu as a divisive figure and have requested that someone else be nominated, while LDK has said that it will not vote for any candidate for this position proposed by LVV.

The nomination for parliamentary speaker is the exclusive right of the election winner, LVV, which insists that Haxhiu deserves to be elected and, although it has sought a political agreement with other parties, has ruled out the possibility of bringing forward a candidate other than itself.

In addition to the speaker of parliament, the deputies must also elect the five deputy speakers of the legislative body in order to complete the process of constituting the ninth parliamentary composition.

And only after the process of constituting the Assembly has been completed, steps can be taken to form the new Government.

The political crisis comes after no party won the majority to govern alone and there is a lack of agreement between them to create a majority in the Assembly.

The LVV came first in the February elections, winning 48 seats, 13 short of the minimum 61 needed to form a new government on its own. The PDK came in second with 24 seats, the LDK third with 20, the AAK-Nisma 8, and the Serbian List 9.

The leader of the LVV, who is also the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, stated earlier in May that during the process of forming the new executive, he would be ready for compromises and concessions. He mentioned as possible partners the minorities and the Social Democratic Initiative of Fatmir Limaj, which has won three seats in the Assembly./ REL