The absence of an elected president in Kosovo has opened a new legal debate: when does the term of the acting president end? Legal experts disagree on how the six-month period should be calculated, particularly following the parliamentary elections of June 7 and the constitution of the new Assembly.

The dispute over the interpretations concerns whether the six-month period should begin anew for the new speaker of the Assembly who will also assume the duties of acting president, or whether the term should be calculated from April 4, when former President Vjosa Osmani’s term ended.

Former President of the Constitutional Court Enver Hasani and former judge of the same court Kadri Kryeziu support the position that the election of a new speaker of the Assembly also marks the start of a new six-month term for exercising the duties of president. Meanwhile, Gëzim Shala, a researcher at the Kosovo Law Institute (KLI), argues that the constitutional limit applies to the position of acting president, not to the person holding it.

Article 90, paragraph 3 of the Constitution stipulates that “the position of acting president may not be exercised for a period longer than six months.”

Enver Hasani says that, with the election of a new speaker of the Assembly, a new six-month term for exercising the duties of president begins. According to him, the claim that this term ends in October is incorrect, and he dismissed this interpretation by saying, “They are talking nonsense.”

“Let me clarify one more thing, because unfortunately I have heard this even from members of the legal community. If the speaker of the Assembly is elected, and if it is not Mrs. Haxhiu, that person receives a new six-month mandate on that day. If Mrs. Haxhiu is reconfirmed as speaker of the Assembly, the six-month term starts from now, not from when she first assumed it. Her term does not end [in October]—they are wrong. Whoever says it does is talking nonsense, and these matters are clear,” Hasani said on the “Interview of the Week” program on KosovaPress on June 13.

Kadri Kryeziu shares the same assessment. He says that if the Assembly is constituted and a new speaker is elected, while the country still has no elected president, the head of the legislature automatically assumes the duties of acting president and a new six-month period begins for that person.

“If Parliament is constituted in the coming days and the new speaker assumes office, and there is no president, then the new speaker starts from zero. In other words, there is a six-month term as acting president … if there is no president of the country, the new speaker of Parliament automatically becomes acting president and has a six-month mandate,” he said.

Gëzim Shala of KLI holds a different view. According to him, the Constitution does not grant every person who takes over the leadership of the Assembly a new six-month term, but instead establishes the maximum period during which the position of acting president itself may be exercised.

Shala stresses that replacing the person holding this position neither restarts nor extends the constitutional term. He says the six-month period began to be calculated on April 5, 2026, when the former president’s term ended, and will conclude on October 5.

“The six-month term is linked to the position, not the person. For this reason, the six-month term began running from the day the former president’s mandate ended, which was April 5, 2026. Under the Constitution, the position of president with an acting officeholder may be held for only six months, and changing the name of the person does not extend the possibility of the position being held for six months. For this reason, on October 5 we will no longer have a president, and this will be a new, uncharted situation that is not regulated by Kosovo’s Constitution. There is no Constitutional Court precedent on how to act in such cases. Such a situation would leave us unable to function due to the absence of an institutional officeholder such as the president, who is responsible for calling elections and giving the mandate to form a new government. For this reason, it is important that the president be elected before that date,” Shala said.

According to this interpretation, after October 5 Kosovo could face a situation that is not clearly defined by the Constitution. Shala says there is also no Constitutional Court precedent indicating how authorities should act in such a case.

Meanwhile, Kosovo’s Assembly has still not been constituted. In the two attempts held so far, the election of the speaker of the Assembly and the completion of the process of constituting the 11th Legislature have not been achieved.

The constitutive session continues to be a source of clashes among parliamentary parties, while delays in establishing the institutions are deepening the political crisis in the country. Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has called for time to reach a political agreement that would pave the way for the constitution of the Assembly and the formation of new institutions. The PDK and the Alliance, meanwhile, have continued their political actions demanding that the constitutive session be held.

On Tuesday, Albin Kurti, in his capacity as acting prime minister and leader of the LVV, met with LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku to discuss, among other issues, the presidency.

After the meeting, Kurti and Abdixhiku said there was a shared will to elect a unifying and consensual figure to the post of president. They did not make any names public, explaining that they would first address the issue within their parties’ internal structures and then present concrete candidacies at their next meeting. The Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Alliance were not included in these talks.

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