The Central Election Commission (CEC) has certified the results of the early parliamentary elections, about a month after they were held.
The June 7 election was the third time Kosovo organized parliamentary voting in less than a year and a half.
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From this electoral process, the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) secured 53 mandates. The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) won 22 seats, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) 18 seats, while the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) won seven seats.
Following the certification of the results, parliament speaker and at the same time acting president Albulena Haxhiu is obliged to convene the constitutive session of the Assembly.
The Constitution stipulates that this session must be held within 30 days of the certification of the results.
At the constitutive session, the Assembly is formally established, the speaker and deputy speakers are elected, and the way is then opened for the procedures to create the new Government.
After the Assembly is constituted, Haxhiu proposes the party that won the elections as the nominee to form the Government, which in this case is the Vetëvendosje Movement.
Radio Free Europe asked Haxhiu’s office when the constitutive session is expected to be called, but received no response.
According to Naim Jakaj, a researcher at the Kosovo Law Institute (IKD), although there is a constitutional deadline of 30 days from the certification, the session could also be convened much earlier.
“Given that the election results are already known, there is no objective reason for the process to be dragged out,” he said.
As an example, in the most recent parliamentary elections held months ago, the elected deputies constituted the Assembly and voted in the new Government on the same day, in a single session on February 11.
This had happened after representatives of the parliamentary parties and the then speaker of the Assembly, Dimal Basha, had agreed in advance on the agenda, including a package vote on the Assembly’s deputy speakers.
The process had also been eased by the convincing victory of the party of acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the Vetëvendosje Movement.
Since the ruling party appears to have the votes to constitute the Assembly and to form the Government, these two processes are not expected to face obstacles.
However, another issue could keep the country in a political and institutional crisis: the election of the new president.
Kurti’s party has won 53 seats in the 120-seat Assembly, while it needs at least 61 for the Assembly and the new Government.
Given Kurti’s cooperation so far with non-Serb minority parties, which hold 10 seats, votes for this process are not expected to be a problem.
LVV official Arbërie Nagavci told RFE days ago that the ruling party has secured the votes to form the new Government and that it will seek consensus with other parties for the election of the president.
Jakaj believes that Kurti will have to sit down with opposition parties to reach a political agreement, so that the country can have the long-term functioning of its institutions.
“A party that puts the state’s interest first should bear in mind that any delay in the formation of institutions produces costs for the country, whether in European integration, economic development, the implementation of reforms, or the loss of important opportunities for citizens,” Jakaj said.
For the vote for Kosovo’s president to be valid, the presence of 2/3 of deputies in the 120-seat Assembly is required.
If a political agreement is lacking, this remains impossible for any parliamentary party.
The Constitution provides that the president must be elected within 60 days from the day the Assembly is constituted.
If this does not happen, then the Assembly is dissolved and the country goes to new elections, Jakaj said.
So far, political parties have not held talks on a possible political agreement regarding the president.
Kurti has said he is ready for talks with other parties, while Nagavci told RFE that their party “will do everything” within its mandate to secure the votes needed to elect the new president.
PDK has said it would be open to talks with all parties, without excluding LVV, while LDK has set several preconditions for an agreement on the creation of new institutions, including the issue of American gas.
Jakaj stressed that the parties’ statements so far “show that the road to an agreement will not be easy.”
“Kurti has expressed readiness for dialogue with the other parties. But full transparency is needed here so that it is known whether this is genuine will. Public statements are not enough. There is no obstacle to the parties immediately starting discussions on a political agreement, because any delay increases the risk of a new institutional crisis and repeated elections,” Jakaj stressed.
If the country goes to elections again, then they would be the fourth parliamentary elections since the beginning of 2025.
