Haxhiu in a crouched start, ready to take over the position of acting president

​​​​​​​Vjosa Osmani will tomorrow complete her five-year term as President of Kosovo. There are no indications of an agreement between political parties on the election of a new president, so it appears that the role will be taken over from Osmani by Albulena Haxhiu, the Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, as acting President of Kosovo. Thus, the Self-Determination Movement will hold the three most important positions: the prime ministership, the presidency, and the speaker of parliament. Haxhiu will perform almost all the duties normally carried out by the president, and if, according to the Constitutional Court’s decision, a new president is not elected in the Assembly within a little over three weeks, she will be the one to set the date for early elections.

Writes: Dušica Radeka Đorđević

An acting president for Kosovo is not unprecedented. Vjosa Osmani also served as acting President of Kosovo while she was Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, from 5 November 2020 to 22 March 2021, because the then-President Hashim Thaçi resigned after an indictment against him was confirmed by the Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

According to the Constitution of Kosovo, the position of acting President cannot last longer than six months.

Analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu says that during her term as acting president, Haxhiu will perform almost all the duties normally carried out by the President of Kosovo.

“Acting presidents have served twice before—once Vjosa Osmani and once Jakup Krasniqi—and they performed all the duties that are normally carried out by the President of Kosovo,” Spahiu told Kosovo Online.

He states that Osmani, during the period when she served as acting president, did the same job as when she was president in full capacity—no more and no less.

“I didn’t even notice any difference between when she was acting president and when she was already president,” Spahiu emphasized.

The acting presidency mandate that Osmani held in 2020, according to political analyst Ognjen Gogic, was marked by the calling of early parliamentary elections and the campaign for those elections, in which she also took part, and a similar fate awaits Albulena Haxhiu.

“Osmani, while serving as acting president, did not exceed her constitutional powers and authorities. She adhered to the letter of the Constitution, but it was a short period. Very quickly she dissolved the Assembly and entered an election campaign,” Gogic told Kosovo Online.

He also notes that the President of Kosovo is generally a ceremonial or protocol-oriented position.

The president, he says, has certain responsibilities within Kosovo’s legal system, signs laws, and carries out certain appointments, but those powers are limited.

He points out that Albulena Haxhiu will be responsible for setting the date for new elections if a new president is not elected in parliament by the deadline set by the Constitutional Court.

However, when making a decision about the date of possible elections, assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade Stefan Surlic emphasizes that Haxhiu will have to respect the deadlines set by the Constitutional Court, and there will be no possibility of “manipulating” the date in a way that suits the ruling party.

“In that sense, I do not see that Self-Determination can prolong what is already a clear decision of the Constitutional Court, which they said they would respect, and which they themselves asked the Constitutional Court to clarify. The deadlines are very clear, and by the summer we could have new early parliamentary elections in Kosovo. She will have to respect the deadlines due to public pressure to achieve some form of political normality, and I believe that the decisive role will be played precisely by the international factor. It does not want to allow a kind of general power vacuum that has already lasted too long in Kosovo,” Surlic told Kosovo Online.

Three in one

Besnik Tahiri, head of the parliamentary group of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, criticized Prime Minister Albin Kurti last week, saying that he wants to take over the presidency as well, whereas in the past power was shared between parties.

“Power was shared by Ibrahim Rugova in 2001 with the PDK and AAK, and he received almost 50 percent of the vote. Power was also shared in 2004, and others shared it as well. Hashim Thaçi also shared power when he won. Isa Mustafa also shared power. Ramush Haradinaj — everyone shared it. This gentleman does not want to share because he wants to take over the presidency as well. That is not democracy,” Tahiri emphasized.

Gogic, however, says that although in recent years all three positions were not held by one party, they were held by one political list.

“It was Self-Determination. Albin Kurti was prime minister, Vjosa Osmani was President of Kosovo, and Konjufca was Speaker of Parliament. And they were all part of that coalition. This proved to be a very convenient situation, because when, for example, the election date was being set at the end of December, the fact that they were part of one coalition came to the fore, in the sense that Osmani helped Albin Kurti ensure that the elections were scheduled for the date that suited him best, 28 December,” Gogic states.

Regardless of the fact that Self-Determination will control the three most important positions, Surlic assesses that the opposition will still be able to boycott parliament, trigger early elections, and use the opportunity to potentially remove Self-Determination and form a broader coalition.

He also assesses that Self-Determination’s mission will be to avoid elections at any cost by seeking a candidate for President of Kosovo who would be acceptable to some of the opposition parties, although this is a very difficult task.

“Although opposition parties are divided among themselves, they are united in the opportunity that new elections would reduce Self-Determination’s lead and the number of votes it won in the previous elections. And a new player is Vjosa Osmani, who could align herself with existing political parties and become a recognizable face of the opposition. I do not believe she will go into political retirement, and I assume that one of the political options, specifically the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), will offer her—not the position of party leader, but certainly the role of a recognizable figure in the campaign,” he assesses.

What happens after the 34-day deadline expires?

Surlic says that Haxhiu will remain acting President of Kosovo even after the 34-day deadline, which the Constitutional Court gave MPs on 25 March to elect a new President of Kosovo, expires—if the political parties fail to reach an agreement on a candidate who could become president.

And Spahiu believes that in the scenario of automatic dissolution of parliament, as foreseen by the Constitutional Court, Haxhiu should remain acting president, but he notes that such a thing has never happened before.

“But it is unlikely that anyone will raise that issue before the Constitutional Court. She should remain acting president, but if even she cannot serve in that role, then the President of the Constitutional Court would be the one to serve as acting President of Kosovo,” he said.

Benefits for a former president

According to the Law on the President, former Presidents of Kosovo are entitled to certain benefits, and Osmani will also receive them, although questions are already being raised in Pristina about whether she should be entitled to them if she continues to be actively involved in politics, as she herself has suggested.

Those privileges include the continued use of the title “President,” and the former president is entitled to a pension equal to 70 percent of the salary received by the President of Kosovo.

For a period of five years, they are also entitled to office space, office equipment, professional staff for the office, and an official escort for three years after the end of their mandate, as well as the right to attend ceremonies and official events. They also continue to use a Kosovo diplomatic passport for life.

One provision of this law stipulates that these rights may cease to apply to a former president whose term has ended, at their own request.

Law professor Mazlum Baraliu stated that it is unclear whether political engagement by a former president affects the right to receive these benefits, and in his opinion, anyone who is actively involved in politics should renounce the benefits of a former president.

“They should simply send a signal by giving up, by requesting to renounce all benefits while they are involved in politics, and not enjoy those benefits,” Baraliu’s position is.