Gruda: Kosovo’s Assembly has not been constituted, PDK to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court

Kosovo Democratic Party MP Përparim Gruda has rejected Albulena Haxhiu’s statement that Kosovo’s Assembly has already been constituted.

According to Gruda, the process cannot be considered complete as long as all of the Assembly’s deputy speakers have not been elected. He stressed that the deputy speaker belonging to the PDK has yet to be elected.

Gruda held the Vetëvendosje Movement responsible for failing to respect the constitutional deadlines and announced that the PDK would refer the matter to the Constitutional Court. He said that only this court could provide a solution to the situation, which he described as “constitutional chaos.”

Gruda said that Vetëvendosje cannot violate the deadlines and then use that violation to deny the PDK a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

He referred to the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and rulings by the Constitutional Court in cases KO124/25, KO193/25, KO196/25 and KO265/25, saying that these decisions establish that the Assembly is not considered constituted without the election of all deputy speakers. For this reason, he said, the Assembly has not been constituted, since the PDK representative for the post of deputy speaker has yet to be elected.

The PDK MP described as incorrect the interpretation of the Constitutional Court’s ruling regarding the legal consequences of not exercising the right to nominate a deputy speaker, stressing that this interpretation cannot be applied to his party.

As a first reason, Gruda explained that the PDK had not waived its right to nominate the Assembly’s deputy speaker. In the official letter, he said, the party made clear that this right remained intact, but that its exercise had been temporarily postponed pending clarification by the Constitutional Court of the circumstances related to the constitution of the Assembly. He distinguished between waiving a constitutional right and temporarily suspending its use because of an issue requiring constitutional interpretation.

The second reason, according to Gruda, concerns the expiry of the deadlines. The constitutional deadline for constituting the Assembly expired on 7 August, while Vetëvendosje later set 6 September as a political deadline. He said that neither date was respected.

Gruda added that PDK MPs also took part in two sessions held after these deadlines, demonstrating their willingness to complete the constitution of the Assembly. However, he said, both sessions were hindered by procedural maneuvers and political actions by Vetëvendosje that prevented the process from being completed.

He argued that the constitutional order cannot function in a way where one side violates the deadlines, schedules sessions according to its own wishes, fails to complete the constitution of the Assembly when the PDK participates, and then calls a session outside any deadline, declaring that the Assembly has been constituted without the PDK’s presence.

As a third reason, Gruda cited the risk of creating a constitutional precedent. According to him, such an interpretation would allow the party that caused and continued the violation of the deadlines to benefit legally from its own violation. Instead of leading to constitutional accountability, this would be used to deny another parliamentary entity a right established in the Constitution.

Gruda said that such a standard could not be accepted and that clarification of the situation rested solely with the Constitutional Court. He announced that the PDK would refer the matter to the court and comply with the decision it issued.