The political crisis in Kosovo escalated on October 5, when protesters clashed with the Kosovo Police, while the Assembly approved amendments to the Law on Specialist Chambers in the first reading but did not put the second reading to a vote.
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The situation grew tense on a day when the institutions were under pressure from the constitutional deadline for electing the president. Clashes outside the Assembly and the Government were accompanied by the police use of tear gas and a water cannon, while protesters threw pyrotechnic devices and hard objects.
The Kosovo Police reported that 20 police officers were injured and received medical treatment. Twelve citizens or protesters, as well as one journalist, also sought medical assistance.
The police also announced the arrest of three people. Two of them, on the prosecutor’s orders, were placed in detention, while the third was released and will face regular legal proceedings.
The police intervention was also reported to the Kosovo Police Inspectorate. The institution is expected to examine whether there was any possible exceeding of authority or disproportionate use of force during the operation.
The amendments to the Law on Specialist Chambers were approved with 91 votes in favor, with no votes against and no abstentions. The draft law provides, among other things, for a maximum sentence of 15 years, the right to appeal to the Supreme Court of Kosovo, and for sentences to be served in Kosovo.
However, the October 5 vote was only the first parliamentary step. For final approval, the draft law must also pass a second reading.
The failure to put the second reading to a vote angered the protesters, who continued to remain outside the institutions even after the initial approval.
The street clashes were accompanied by a political confrontation between the parties, which hold differing positions on how to overcome the institutional deadlock.
In this climate, Prime Minister Albin Kurti met with PDK Chairman Bedri Hamza. The political crisis and the election of the president were at the center of the talks, but the meeting ended without any concrete agreement.
The two sides disagree on the order in which the issues should be addressed. Kurti wants a solution for the president to be found first, while the PDK insists that the amendments to the Law on Specialist Chambers must be approved beforehand and that the head of state should be discussed only afterward.
Bedri Hamza has reiterated that the PDK’s position remains unchanged: the Law on Specialist Chambers must be voted on first, followed by consideration of the presidential issue. He said that an agreement on the president would be in Kosovo’s interest and could avert new elections, but his party would not abandon its condition that the law be approved.
Mehmeti: Escalation of protest was unnecessary
Political commentator Gani Mehmeti described Monday’s escalation of the protest as unnecessary. According to him, the response to the Specialist Court’s September 16 ruling should take place through legal means and be based on concrete arguments.
Mehmeti told “Bota sot” that the September 16, 2026, ruling of the Kosovo Specialist Court, based in The Hague, was regrettable, but that it should be challenged through appeals and facts. In his view, all sides should have prepared to appeal, with the aim of challenging and overturning the September 16 decision in The Hague.
He stressed that protest is a democratic right, but it should not end in clashes with security institutions.
According to Mehmeti, Monday’s protests were excessive and unnecessary, especially because they ended in clashes with the Kosovo Police. He called on the PDK and the KLA structures, in whose name chants were heard, to remain calm. In his assessment, protesters and police officers are part of the same country, so discontent should be expressed with restraint and responsibility.
Mehmeti warned that such clashes do not benefit Kosovo and could be used politically by Serbia. He also questioned the chants of “KLA, KLA,” asking that it be clarified whom they were directed at and against whom force was intended to be demonstrated. According to him, the Specialist Court’s judges are international officials and are in The Hague or at their homes, so the confrontation should take place through arguments and legal means, not in the streets.
Commenting on the PDK’s position and its conditioning of the next meeting on a vote on the amendments to the Law on Specialist Chambers, Mehmeti said the parties should not have turned the order of the votes into a cause for confrontation, especially given the deadline for electing the president.
He said that after the first reading on the Specialist Chambers was approved on Monday, the head of state should also have been elected, paving the way for the draft law’s second reading afterward. In his view, Hamza should not have insisted on which process should come first—the election of the president or approval of the Law on Specialist Chambers. Mehmeti said the time available for the presidential election was already very limited, while it would not be too late to hold the second vote on the law either the next day or the day after.
He recalled that the prime minister had pledged that the second reading on the Specialist Chambers would be voted on Thursday, 72 hours after the first reading, in line with constitutional procedures.
Meanwhile, if the president was not elected by midnight that day, the Assembly would be dissolved and Kosovo would go to extraordinary elections. In such a case, Mehmeti warned, the second reading of the draft law would not take place and would be postponed for a long period, until after new institutions were established.
According to him, such a development would also make institutional coordination on appeals and challenges to the September 16, 2026, ruling more difficult. For this reason, he called on the parties not to use the order of the processes as a tool of political conditioning, but to find a solution that would ensure the institutions continued to function.
Mehmeti said that the parties’ repeated conditions were deepening the political and institutional crisis. According to him, these positions should form part of an essential political negotiation aimed at reaching a swift agreement, rather than becoming an obstacle to the normal functioning of the institutions.
He warned that the disagreement over the president could have broad institutional consequences. The dissolution of the Assembly, he said, would leave Kosovo without the normal functioning of its institutions and would delay important processes for a long time.
For this reason, Mehmeti called on the parties to sit down and negotiate until an agreement was reached. Otherwise, he warned, the country could face an even more serious institutional situation.
Halili: Crisis has entered a more dangerous phase
Professor Nijazi Halili said Monday’s developments showed that Kosovo’s political crisis had entered a more dangerous stage.
In a statement to “Bota sot,” Halili stressed that discontent should be expressed forcefully, but without violence and without threatening public order.
According to him, protest is a democratic right and should not be questioned, but escalation and clashes with the Kosovo Police are unacceptable. In a democratic state, he said, citizens should express their opposition without using violence or endangering security.
Halili also called for restraint from the institutions. He said the police should act professionally and proportionately, using only the measures necessary to ensure security. According to him, political tensions should not turn into a new cycle of escalation in the streets.
Speaking about the PDK and the meeting between Kurti and Hamza, the professor said recent developments showed that the country had entered a phase of intense political negotiations. He described the setting of conditions and the demand for guarantees by a political entity as legitimate, but warned that the election of the president should not be used to cause institutional blockages.
Halili said the PDK’s shift from initially rejecting an agreement with LVV to presenting concrete conditions and holding a meeting with Albin Kurti should be viewed as an opportunity for dialogue, but also as a moment requiring political responsibility.
According to him, the draft law on amendments concerning the Specialist Chambers should not serve as a bargaining chip in the presidential issue. Such matters, Halili said, should be addressed on the basis of the state interest, legal arguments and transparency. If the parties have objections or demands, they should present them openly and defend them in the Assembly.
The professor described political negotiation as essential, but rejected political deals that hold the state hostage. He said the parties could negotiate, set conditions and seek compromise, but must respect the functioning of the institutions as a red line.
“Kosovo cannot withstand a crisis in which the Assembly is blocked, clashes are taking place in the streets and distrust prevails among the parties,” Halili said, adding that such a situation harms the state and its citizens.
His message to the political parties was to reduce tensions and return to the negotiating table. According to Halili, compromise is not a political weakness; weakness is holding the country hostage for party interests.
He stressed that the president must be elected, the institutions must continue functioning and legal matters must be addressed responsibly. Kosovo, he said, needs institutional stability, not an endless political confrontation.
Halili concluded that if political leaders fail to reach a compromise in the country’s interest, it will be citizens—not the parties—who bear the consequences of the crisis.
