Gani Mehmeti Criticizes Serbian List’s Appeal: It Is Abusing Guaranteed Seats, Constitutional Court Should Ban Its Activities

The Serbian List has petitioned the Constitutional Court to challenge Supreme Court ruling AA.nr.29/2026. The appeal was filed three days before the constitutional deadline for constituting the Assembly and two days before the Kosovo Assembly’s constitutive session is due to resume on August 6.

At the heart of the dispute is Nenad Rashiq’s seat in the Kosovo Assembly. The Serbian List argues that the mechanism of seats reserved for the Serb community has not received functional protection and claims that representatives of this community should be determined solely by the votes of Serb citizens.

According to its announcement, the initiative before the Constitutional Court is not intended to protect a political entity or a particular parliamentary seat. The Serbian List says it is seeking to protect the constitutional right of the Serb people, as well as other non-majority communities, to authentic political representation, which it describes as one of the fundamental principles of their constitutional status in Kosovo.

The party believes that the Central Election Commission, the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel and the Supreme Court failed to address the main constitutional question. According to the Serbian List, it must be clarified whether the purpose of the reserved seats is upheld when votes cast by citizens who do not belong to the Serb community influence the election of Serb representatives.

Following the June elections, the Serbian List initially took the case to the ECAP and then to the Supreme Court. It claimed that Nenad Rashiq’s party, ZSPO, had received a significant number of votes in municipalities where, based on the 2024 population census, the Serb community is almost nonexistent. The appeals were rejected by both bodies.

The CEC found that the claims presented provided no legal basis for questioning the validity of the votes or the election result. The ECAP also dismissed the appeal as unfounded, explaining that voting is based on equality and secrecy. It was also emphasized that the voter list does not contain data on ethnicity, precisely to avoid violating these principles.

Of the 10 seats reserved for the Serb community in the June elections, the Serbian List secured 9, while the tenth went to Nenad Rashiq.

If the constitution of the Assembly is not completed by August 7, the constitutional procedure will move to the stage of electing the country’s president. The Constitution sets a 60-day deadline for the election of the president. Failure to do so within that deadline would send Kosovo back to new elections.

Commentator Gani Mehmeti responded to the appeal in remarks to “Bota sot.” He accused the Serbian List of misusing the guarantee of reserved seats for Serbs and other minorities in Kosovo, while saying that the party does not act in the interests of the country’s Serb community.

Mehmeti called on the Serbian List to say how it would respond if Albanian voters cast ballots for it and whether, in such a case, it would accept the votes or file a complaint. According to him, the seats guaranteed to Serbs and other minorities were not created to fight the Republic of Kosovo, but the Serbian List is abusing this opportunity.

He claims that instead of working for the benefit of Kosovo’s Serb minority, the party goes to Belgrade and, together with Vuçiq, fights the Republic of Kosovo by every means available. Mehmeti says that although Vuçiq does not recognize Kosovo, the Serbian List must recognize it and act in accordance with its Constitution and laws.

In his assessment, only by supporting Kosovo’s independence would the party earn the right to guaranteed seats and participation in the Kosovo government, as required by law and the Constitution. Mehmeti adds that not only the Serbian List, but also Albanians who fail to act properly and in accordance with the law, should be excluded.

Speaking about the voting process, the commentator recalled that the ballot is free and secret, meaning every citizen may cast it for whomever they deem appropriate. He congratulated those who may have voted in this way and asked the Serbian List why it did not complain when, according to him, it received more rights than it was entitled to.

Mehmeti says the Serbian List is objecting to the fact that Albanians may have voted for a Serb party that supports Kosovo’s independence, recognizes the state and complies with its laws and Constitution. He also called on the Serbian List to follow the same path, after which discussions with it could proceed differently.

The commentator also asked why the party had not requested only as many seats in the Kosovo Assembly as it was entitled to and could secure through its voters, but instead accepted ten seats. According to him, that number is high when only around 50,000-60,000 Serbs live in Kosovo. He summed up his position by saying that one cannot refuse to recognize Kosovo while simultaneously seeking to be part of it.

Mehmeti emphasized that no provision determines which candidate a citizen may or may not vote for. Because the ballot is free and secret, voters decide for themselves whether to vote and for whom. He did not rule out the possibility that, after the Serbian List brought this issue to the fore, even more Albanians could vote for Serb candidates in future elections, adding that the debate had reminded them of and shown them this possibility.

He predicted that as long as it remains under Vuçiq’s direction, the Serbian List will not manage to secure more than 3 seats in the next elections.

Referring to the Serbian List’s claim that electoral and judicial institutions had failed to constitutionally protect the system of seats reserved for non-majority communities, Mehmeti said these institutions had not undertaken to guarantee it such protection, particularly when it opposes the Republic of Kosovo.

He went further, declaring that since the attack in Banjska, the judicial institutions should have condemned the Serbian List as a terrorist party. Regarding the request for the Constitutional Court to clarify whether reserved seats continue to serve their purpose when voters from other communities influence the election of Serb representatives, Mehmeti said the Constitutional Court should revoke the Serbian List’s right to operate as a party. According to him, only political entities that respect the laws, the Constitution and the Republic of Kosovo should have the right to participate in elections.