Gruda: PDK still stands by its proposal for deputy speaker of Parliament

Kosovo Democratic Party MP Përparim Gruda said that Kosovo’s institutions are being humiliated, while citizens are being subjected to meaningless sessions. He made the comments at a joint press conference with MP Arian Tahiri, following the constitution of Parliament and the vote on the “Kurti 4” government.

Gruda said that the PDK decided to withdraw from the sessions because, in his view, not only constitutional deadlines had been violated, but also those set by the Vetëvendosje Movement itself.

“When we realized that, in addition to violating the constitutional deadlines and those set by Vetëvendosje, the institutions were being humiliated and insulted, while citizens were being mocked through meaningless sessions, we decided to withdraw and use the only instrument available to us in a democracy, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo. For this reason, we decided no longer to participate in the sessions,” Gruda declared.

According to him, the PDK has not withdrawn its proposal for its candidate for the post of deputy speaker of Parliament and, in the absence of this proposal, Parliament cannot be considered constituted.

Gruda stressed that the letter submitted by his party does not contain a withdrawal of the candidacy, but merely announces a temporary withdrawal from the process pending a decision by the Constitutional Court.

“The Democratic Party of Kosovo has not abandoned its proposal for its candidate for deputy speaker of Parliament. The letter we submitted today does not imply the withdrawal of the proposal, but our temporary withdrawal from the process until the Court reaches a decision. The PDK has not rejected the candidacy for deputy speaker of Parliament,” he said.

He added that, since the proposal had not been rejected, Parliament could not have been constituted and that the process carried out today was outside the constitutional deadlines and provisions, because the deputy speaker proposed by the PDK was missing.

“If Vetëvendosje can constitute Parliament without our deputy speaker because we did not participate in two sessions, in fact only one, since this is the first session we did not attend, then how can it claim that it has the right to propose the speaker of Parliament when it was absent from Parliament for two months? It was absent beyond the constitutional deadline and beyond the political deadline it had set itself. Why should Vetëvendosje be granted the right to propose the speaker of Parliament when it violates the Constitution so openly, while we can be denied a right because we miss one day of a session? Should Parliament convene only when it suits Vetëvendosje, or are there rules? We are a society governed by rules, we function as a state, and Parliament should have convened within the deadlines,” Gruda said.

Another PDK MP, Arian Tahiri, said that the process of constituting Parliament had entered a phase in which constitutional clarity was needed.

He announced that all developments from the constitutive session and the vote on the new government would be submitted to the Constitutional Court for interpretation.

The eleventh legislature of the Kosovo Assembly was constituted on Sunday through the election of deputy speakers, according to the speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Albulena Haxhiu.

At today’s session, Parliament elected LDK’s Kujtim Shala as deputy speaker, while Emilja Rexhepi and Tanja Vujoviq from the Serb List were elected from the non-Serb community.

The PDK was not present in the plenary hall, and as a result, Vlora Çitaku’s nomination for the post of deputy speaker had been withdrawn.

One day earlier, on Friday, Ardian Gola had been elected deputy speaker.

Also today, the “Kurti 4” government was put to a vote and received 62 votes in favor during an extraordinary session.