In anticipation of a session of the Kosovo Assembly, at which, according to announcements, a new government will be elected soon, the point related to the election of the President of Kosovo could remain the main stumbling block.
The winning party, LVV with its candidate Vjosa Osmani has so far failed to obtain the required majority of at least 80 votes they need for the first, i.e. second round of voting.
Immediately after Glauk Konjufca was elected the Speaker of the Assembly, the news arrived from Pristina that he „automatically took over“ the post of the acting Kosovo President from Vjosa Osmani.
Ehat Miftaraj from the Kosovo Law Institute told KoSSev, however, that the next step according to the constitution is clear: First the Assembly MPs are elected, then the president of Kosovo, and finally the government.
If the president of Kosovo is not elected today but a new government is elected, the MPs who are not satisfied with this order – and there must be at least ten of them – have the opportunity to address the Constitutional Court and request an assessment of the legality of the new government.
In such a case, the Constitutional Court is the only one that can decide whether the government was elected legally.
Hypothetically, Miftaraj does not exclude the possibility that the Constitutional Court may decide that the government was not legally elected.
Moreover, he recalled that it would not be the first time that the government fell in this way, citing the Hoti-led government as one such example.
When asked if today’s transfer of the post of the acting Kosovo President from Osmani to Konjufca could be a tactical move by LVV to secure two-thirds support of the MPs in the coming months, Miftaraj emphasizes:
„Even if that happens, that mandate will still expire on May 5th. Looking at it from the side of the law and the Constitution, if the government is elected first today and then the president – that would not be legal. The Constitution of Kosovo and the constitutional practice say the following: The Kosovo Assembly MPs are elected first, then the President of Kosovo, and then the government.“
Addressing LVV’s apparent attempt to automatically take over the function of the acting president by electing Glauk Konjufca as the Speaker of the Assembly, Miftaraj confirmed that this is interpreted as LVV’s intention to avoid the current situation in which they do not have a sufficient number of votes for the President of Kosovo.
„That is not legal,“ Miftaraj underlined.
This Kosovo law expert added that if Konjufca would to remain the acting President of Kosovo until May 5, and LVV fails to obtain the required 80 votes in favor, new elections will be called.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
