Analysts: Constitution of the Assembly and Government expected without obstacles, president may be delayed

In the first week of July, the Central Election Commission is expected to certify the results of the June 7 elections, paving the way for the establishment of Kosovo’s new institutions. After this process, Acting President Albulena Haxhiu may call the constitutive session, while on the same day the Assembly and the Government could also be constituted.

Experts on constitutional matters assess that the formation of the new institutions is expected to begin during July, immediately after the certification of the results. According to them, this time there is a greater chance that the Assembly and the Government will be formed without delays, while the problem may arise in the election of the president, due to the lack of political consensus. Observers in the field warn that any institutional blockade would further deepen the country’s political uncertainty.

Experts in this field appear optimistic that this time there will be no blockage of the institutions.

“The issue of repeating the previous crisis over the constitution of the Assembly should not happen, because all the constitutional paths or blockages that occurred earlier are now clear and there is no room for blockages. We now have clear deadlines within which the Assembly must be constituted, and it is clear that the speaker of the Assembly belongs to the largest parliamentary group in the Assembly. So, only if political parties have a greater will to block the Assembly of the Republic than to unblock it,” Melos Kolshi from the Kosovo Law Institute told RTK.

Analyst Adrian Zeqiri also assesses that, based on the current positions of the political parties, the Assembly and the Government will be formed on time, but the process of electing the president may take longer.

“These positions took us to elections last time and, based on what we are seeing, there is no change from either side regarding these positions. I also think there will be the establishment of the Assembly, there will be the establishment of the new Government, and the situation will drag on either through procedures or through the involvement of the Constitutional Court,” said Adrian Zeqiri, a political analyst.

According to experts, any blockage of the institutions would push the country toward new crises. “The scenario of new elections by political parties should not even be an option because of the damage we have suffered and the crises we are facing. Our country has had more than five rounds of elections recently, and these elections are extremely challenging for democracy,” Kolshi added.

On the other hand, Zeqiri also stressed the impact these processes have had on citizen participation and the economy. “We saw in the last elections that there was extremely low participation by resident citizens. That is, not to mention all the damage caused to Kosovo even at the level of the domestic economy,” he underlined.

Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti said a few days ago that as soon as the results are certified, discussions will begin on establishing the institutions.