LVV Awaits Certification to Formalize Steps Toward Establishing New Institutions

Vetëvendosje Movement has already begun internal discussions on the possibilities for forming institutions, but official decisions will come only after the certification of the June 7 election results. This was stated by Kosovo’s chief negotiator with the European Union, Jeton Zulfaj.

In the “Interview of the Week” on KosovaPress, Zulfaj stressed that this certification will serve as the formal basis for determining the number of mandates and analyzing scenarios for constituting the Assembly, forming new institutions, and electing the president.

According to him, Albin Kurti, as prime minister and at the same time head of the largest political party, must wait for the completion of the electoral process before moving forward, so that every calculation and position is based on the official results.

Zulfaj said that discussions are taking place within LVV on various alternatives, but stressed that how they will take shape will also depend on the behavior and approach of other political parties toward the establishment of new institutions.

LVV has begun discussions on options for forming institutions

“The prime minister, the president of LVV, will first wait for the certification of the results. That is then the starting point for officially knowing how many mandates you have won, so that you can then speak on that basis. It is known, but as prime minister and president of the largest party, you have to wait for their certification in order to speak with certainty about who has how many seats, to do the arithmetic for constituting the institutions. I believe the prime minister, together with the LVV leadership, will review these scenarios based on the result… Certainly there are discussions (within LVV), but how these discussions will materialize. Last time we had the result and the proposal. Now we also have to see how the political spectrum approaches the creation of institutions,” he said.

He accused the former opposition parties of having obstructed the establishment of institutions in the past as well, mentioning the months-long delay in electing the speaker of the Assembly, even though, according to him, that position belonged to the largest parliamentary group.

Zulfaj added that the opposition at the time not only refused the offer of a governing coalition, but also did not accept LVV’s proposal for a consensual president, mentioning the name of Feride Rushiti.

Zulfaj: The former opposition is becoming an obstacle to the formation of new institutions

“Here I would mention two moments. First, the whole of last year went by, as you know, in drama in the Assembly over the speaker of the Assembly. In other words, the speaker of the Assembly belonged to the largest parliamentary group, and that is how it ended up, right? Why did they waste all that time to prove that the speaker of the Assembly again belonged to the largest parliamentary group? A waste of time, a complete waste of time. Meanwhile, there was also an offer for a governing coalition. They did not want a governing coalition either, so we went to elections. So, the speaker of the Assembly, which belonged to the Vetëvendosje Movement, they delayed for months, only for it to end up again belonging to the Vetëvendosje Movement. They refused a governing coalition for joint governance. And in the elections we won much more than on December 28, we won much more than in February. So not only did they waste our time with maneuvers in the Assembly, but in the end they also lost the elections. What is the result of this? In February, if I am not mistaken, it was February 14 when the new government was then formed. Only two days later, we ratified the Growth Plan, only two days later. We had the Assembly, we had the Government. After the loss of December 28, in the next moment they did not even accept the proposal for a consensual president… They did not accept either our proposal, or their proposal for president. In other words, they did not accept the proposal for a consensual president, the respected Ms. Feride Rushiti, nor did they accept our proposal regarding their proposals for president,” he declared.

The Central Election Commission published the final results of the June 7 elections on June 27.

According to these results, the Vetëvendosje Movement, in a pre-election coalition with Guxo and Alternativa, came first with 47.13% and secured 53 seats. The Democratic Party of Kosovo won 19.44% and 22 seats, the Democratic League of Kosovo 16.69% and 18 seats, while the Alliance won 6.74% and seven seats.

In addition to constituting the Assembly and forming the government, deputies of the eleventh legislature will also be tasked with electing the new president, for which the deadline is 60 days from the moment the Assembly is constituted.