Celic: Kurti committed a legal violation by not resigning

Dusko Celic, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of North Mitrovica, stated that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti committed a legal violation by not resigning from his position. He explains that the Law on the Government of Kosovo, adopted in 2022, explicitly mandates resignation at the moment a government member is elected as a member of parliament, that is, once the competent electoral body confirms such an election result.

“There is no doubt about it — we are dealing with an imperative legal norm here, which cannot be altered or depend on personal will. Simply put, Kurti had to, and still has to, submit a written resignation. It is completely irrelevant whether the new parliament has been constituted or not; he must submit his resignation to the institution of parliament. His mandate is already technically limited in terms of government authority, given that the mandate period has expired and new elections have been organized. However, this provision further emphasizes, I would say, the requirement that there must be no conflict of interest — in this case, a mix between legislative and executive authority, meaning the dual role of a government member, in this case, the prime minister, and a member of parliament,” Celic told Kosovo Online.

He clarifies that there is no obstacle preventing Kurti from submitting his resignation just because the old convocation of parliament has been dissolved and the new one has not yet been constituted, explaining that the resignation is submitted to the parliament as an institution, not to a specific convocation.

Given that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has scheduled the constitutive session of the ninth parliamentary convocation for April 15, Celic states that on that day, Kurti cannot simultaneously be a member of parliament and a prime minister in a technical mandate within the parliamentary hall.

“That is probably the 'D-Day', if I can put it that way, when he must make a decision because he cannot sit in both chairs. He cannot be both prime minister and member of parliament. In any case, at that constitutive session of parliament, he will not be able to vote in the capacity of a member of parliament,” Celic pointed out.