Constitution of the Kosovo Assembly/ President Osmani meets Fatmir Limaj

2025-05-19 17:43:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani met on Monday with the leader of the Social Democratic Initiative, Fatmir Limaj, as part of her political consultations in an effort to unblock the impasse in the Kosovo Assembly, which has remained constituted three months after the elections.

In a brief announcement on Facebook, the Presidency said that the meeting comes after the Initiative's request for a meeting.

The presidency did not provide details about what was discussed at this meeting, while Limaj has not spoken about it so far.

The initiative won three seats in the Assembly in the February 9 elections, in which it competed in a coalition with the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK).

The meeting between Osmani and Limaj comes a few hours after the deputies failed for the eighteenth time in a row to form the Assembly.

On Monday, lawmakers refused for the tenth time in a row to form a commission to oversee a secret ballot for the new head of the legislative body.

The issue of secret balloting – which was proposed on May 1 by the chairman of the session, Avni Dehari, after the Self-Determination Movement (LVV)'s nominee for Speaker of the Assembly, Albulena Haxhiu, failed in several votes to receive the 61 votes needed to be appointed – has been sent to the Constitutional Court of Kosovo by the parties that were in opposition in the previous legislature.

They say that the way LVV is attempting to have the speaker of parliament voted through a secret ballot is unconstitutional, and they have asked 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."

Haxhiu is seen by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and AAK as a "divisive figure", while the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) says it will not support any Vetëvendosje candidate for speaker of parliament.

Vetëvendosje insists that Haxhiu deserves to be elected and, although it has sought political agreements with other parties, has ruled out the possibility of bringing forward another candidate besides itself.

The creation of new institutions requires reaching some kind of political agreement, given that no party has won the majority to govern alone.

Vetëvendosje invited 48 seats, PDK 24, LDK 20, the AKK-NISMA coalition 8, Serbian List 9, the Party for Justice and Survival 1 and non-Serb minorities 10.

Osmani's meeting with Limaj is the first since Osmani met with the leaders of LVV, PDK, LDK, and AAK last week in an attempt to find a way out of this impasse.

After that joint meeting, Osmani said that there was no agreement on the constitution of the Assembly, but added that he had seen a "minimal willingness" among party leaders to find a solution to this issue.

She had announced meetings this week with each leader separately, if they deemed it necessary./ REL