Baraliu: The election of the president must come before the formation of the Government, otherwise the country will go to new elections

Professor of Constitutional Law Mazllum Baraliu has stressed that after the Assembly is constituted, priority should be given to the election of the president of Kosovo. According to him, if the head of state is not elected within the constitutional deadline of 60 days, then the country will face new elections.

Baraliu stated that Kosovo’s Constitution clearly specifies that the mandate to form the Government is given by the elected president, and not by the acting president.

“The Constitution clearly says the president of the country has the right to give the mandate, so it does not say the acting president. So, it is clear that the Constitution requires that in this case, immediately after the certification of the results, the verification of mandates, the swearing-in of deputies, the constitution of the Assembly, the election of the new speaker of the Assembly, we should also have the president elected as a priority and only later the Government, so that we can make use of the situation once the Assembly is constituted, because the Constitution also states in a determinate and imperative way that 60 days after the election of the speaker of the Assembly, the election of the president must take place,” he told Ekonomia Online.

According to him, immediately after the Assembly is constituted and its speaker is elected, the constitutional obligation begins for the country’s president to be elected within the set deadline.

“Therefore, under the Constitution, we have the duty to constitute the Assembly, elect the speaker of the Assembly, and then, within 60 days, all institutions, the Assembly, in a session at which 80 deputies must be present to vote in favor, against or abstain, must elect the president of the country,” he said.

Baraliu warned that failure to elect the president within the constitutional deadline would bring another institutional crisis and lead the country toward early elections.

“If this does not happen within 60 days, unfortunately the country must once again go to new extraordinary and early elections,” Baraliu said.