Does Haxhiu have the right to lead the presidency even after October 4?

Kosovo could enter an unclear constitutional situation in less than a month if a new president is not elected by October 4. According to some legal experts, Albulena Haxhiu cannot exercise this function beyond the six-month period.

Haxhiu, who currently serves as acting president, was re-elected as Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo on September 9. Earlier, the ruling Vetëvendosje Movement had floated the idea that she could continue in this role for a second six-month term, if necessary.

The Presidency has also stated that the new Speaker of the Assembly could continue exercising the duties of the president until a new head of state is elected. Haxhiu has held this responsibility since April 4, when the then-president Vjosa Osmani’s term ended.

However, legal experts consulted by Radio Free Europe say that Haxhiu cannot continue the duty after October 4.

Kosovo’s Constitution stipulates that the post of acting president can be held for a period no longer than six months.

Vullnet Bugaqku, from the Democratic Institute of Kosovo, says that Haxhiu’s mandate as acting president ends on October 4, despite her being re-elected as head of the Assembly.

“After this date, the six-month deadline expires, and legally, the same person does not have the right to also function as acting president, because it is contrary to Article 90, paragraph 3, of the Constitution of Kosovo,” Bugaqku told RFE on Wednesday, after Haxhiu’s re-election as speaker.

According to him, any decree or decision issued by Haxhiu after this deadline would be contestable from a constitutional standpoint and could be overturned by the courts.

Bugaqku called on lawmakers to consider the deadline until October 4 as alarming, within which the country’s president must be elected.

On Wednesday, Haxhiu suspended the constitutive session and announced that it would continue on Friday, aiming to complete the constitution of the Assembly.

She explained that there was no agreement on how to vote for the deputy speakers. Haxhiu also mentioned the fact that the Serbian List MP, Igor Simiq, did not withdraw the phrase “on behalf of the Serbian people” when proposing the candidate for deputy speaker from the Serb community.

Ehat Miftaraj, executive director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, has another emphasis on this issue. He told RFE that the six-month limitation provided by the Constitution relates to the exercise of the president’s function, not to the individual who holds it.

For this reason, according to Miftaraj, neither the change of the person serving as acting president nor the re-election of the Assembly speaker can create a new six-month deadline.

“Such an interpretation would make it possible, through a change of person, for the state of exercising the president’s duties to continue beyond the six-month limit expressly set by the Constitution,” he stressed.

Bugaqku warned that passing October 4 without electing a new president would constitute “a very bad stain and a dangerous precedent that also harms national security.” According to him, such a development would damage the state and Kosovo’s parliamentary constitutional system.

On October 4, the six-month period during which the Constitution allows the duty of Kosovo’s president to be exercised by a substitute comes to an end.

LVV MP Adnan Rrustemi had earlier told RFE that the position of acting president “is dependent on the position of the Assembly speaker.”

Rrustemi had argued that the new Assembly speaker, once elected, also begins exercising the duties of the president until a new president is elected. According to him, with the election of the new speaker, the six-month deadline set by the Constitution starts anew.

“It is in the spirit and content, but also the function of the Constitution, to guarantee institutional continuity. Never, for any reason, can the country be left without a president or without an acting president. An institutional vacuum cannot exist under any circumstances,” Rrustemi had told RFE.

Eugen Cakolli, a researcher at the Democratic Institute of Kosovo, had earlier taken the stance that the six-month deadline for exercising the president’s duties is absolute and cannot be repeated under any circumstances.

Cakolli has described the failure to elect a new president by October 4 as the most dangerous constitutional scenario Kosovo could face.

“In such a situation, the country would enter constitutional terrain which, besides being serious and dangerous, would inevitably need to be addressed to the Constitutional Court,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, Melos Kolshi, a legal researcher at the Kosovo Institute for Justice, told RFE that any continuation of the exercise of the president’s duties after October 4 would lack constitutional support and would seriously undermine the constitutional order.

The Albanian opposition parties have not made public statements on this issue. PDK, LDK, and Alliance did not respond to RFE’s questions on this topic.

The election of the president has been at the center of the political crisis in Kosovo and led to the holding of new parliamentary elections in June.

The fragile agreement between LVV and LDK on the candidacy of Kosovar diplomat and jurist Bekim Sejdiu does not seem to have the necessary support. Public objections to it have also been expressed by LDK’s own MPs.

For the vote for Kosovo’s president to be valid, 80 MPs must be present in the 120-seat Assembly.

LVV holds 53 seats, while LDK has 18. / REL