The Deadline for Electing President of Kosovo Expires at Midnight, Constitutional Crisis Looming

Pristina (BETAPHOTO/ANDRIJA IGIC)

The Kosovo Assembly must elect the president of Kosovo until midnight on Oct. 6, or snap parliamentary elections, the fourth in the past four years, will be scheduled.

If the Assembly fails to elect the president of Kosovo within 60 days from the beginning of the election procedure, it has to be dissolved. This requires no special decision of the Assembly as the provision on its dissolution is automatically activated, which was previously confirmed by a ruling of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo.

In accordance with Kosovo laws, the Assembly speaker assumes the role of president, however, speaker Albulena Haxhiu has been serving as Acting President for six months now, and according to the Kosovo Constitution, it is not possible to serve as acting president for more than six months.

In an analysis published in early October, the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) indicated that the Constitution does not clearly define who takes over the presidential powers after the expiration of the six-month period. The Constitutional Court has so far not explicitly resolved this constitutional gap, while according to the KDI analysis, the absence of a clearly established “succession” mechanism after the expiration of the six-month period creates uncertainty regarding the performance of presidential roles.

This is particularly important because some of those powers are necessary for overcoming the political crisis, since the president, that is, the acting president schedules parliamentary elections and also the inaugural sitting of a new assembly, after the vote. Unless the president is elected by the end of the day on Oct. 6, the question is not only when the next elections will be held, but also who will have the authority to call elections.