Bugaqku: Withdrawal of PDK request does not necessarily mean the end of proceedings before the Constitutional Court

The possible withdrawal by the Democratic Party of Kosovo of its request to the Constitutional Court concerning the constitutionality of the constitution of the Kosovo Assembly and the formation of the new government does not necessarily mean that the proceedings will be terminated, according to Vullnet Bugaqku of the Kosovo Democratic Institute, who says that the court can continue considering the case even if the party that submitted the request decides to withdraw it.

“Withdrawal of a request does not prevent the Constitutional Court from issuing a decision on a case that has already been submitted. Under the law and its Rules of Procedure, the Constitutional Court has a provision stipulating that, regardless of whether a party withdraws before or after submitting the request, the judges have the right to continue the proceedings until their conclusion,” Bugaqku said.

Lawyer Ardijan Bajraktari assessed that the issues concerning the constitution of the Kosovo Assembly and compliance with constitutional deadlines are matters of public interest and that the Constitutional Court should clarify them.

According to him, even if the applicants withdraw the initiative, there needs to be an interpretation of the legal consequences of exceeding the deadline for constituting the Assembly, as well as of constituting parliament without one of the deputy speakers.

“These issues are extremely important in order to determine whether we have a constituted Assembly, bearing in mind that one of the deputy speakers is currently missing. Above all, the most important issue is compliance with the deadlines, as stipulated in the latest rulings of the Constitutional Court, which interpret Article 66, paragraph 1 of the Constitution. Therefore, I believe that it is up to the Constitutional Court to assess this matter of public interest, so that we do not once again face similar situations in the future,” Bajraktari said.

Democratic Party of Kosovo MP Vlora Citaku said that her party would withdraw the cases it submitted to the Constitutional Court concerning the constitution of the Kosovo Assembly and the vote on the government, provided that the Self-Determination Movement publicly commits to voting in favor of amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers.