Gogic: Opposition could challenge possible election of president, Haxhiu’s mandate also disputed

Political scientist Ognjen Gogic told Kosovo Online that the parliamentary majority had violated the Constitutional Court’s ruling by failing to constitute the Assembly within 30 days of the certification of the final election results, meaning that the opposition could also challenge the possible election of a new President of Kosovo before the Constitutional Court.

“That was formulated very clearly in the Constitutional Court’s judgment, but the parliamentary majority disregarded it. It effectively suspended the Assembly session at which the Assembly was supposed to be constituted in order to buy time for additional negotiations. This therefore raises questions about the constitutionality of all subsequent decisions that may be adopted. The Assembly was not constituted within the constitutionally prescribed deadline. This creates the possibility for all of its subsequent decisions to be challenged before the Constitutional Court,” Gogic explained.

According to Gogic, the opposition, comprising the PDK and the Alliance, which has an interest in challenging and preventing the election of the president and has reason to welcome and expect new elections, could bring the matter before the Constitutional Court.

However, he noted that the question was what the Constitutional Court would decide if, for example, ten PDK MPs submitted a request for it to review the constitutionality of the election of the President of Kosovo, should such an election take place.

“Last year, the Constitutional Court applied the principle that one of its judgments does not have retroactive effect. It found that a decision had been adopted unconstitutionally, specifically regarding the election of Nenad Rasic, but did not require its judgment to have retroactive effect because that would have invalidated all subsequent processes and created considerable legal and political chaos. In this case, the Constitutional Court could establish that certain constitutional norms and standards were violated, but nevertheless decide not to restore the previous situation because doing so would create an even greater crisis,” Gogic stressed.

He added that there were also questions surrounding the mandate of Albulena Haxhiu, the current Acting President of Kosovo.

“There is an interpretation in Kosovo that her mandate as Acting President expires on October 4, but that is not correct. She can no longer serve as Acting President of Kosovo because her mandate in that position is tied to the previous parliamentary legislature, whose term has expired. The Kosovo Assembly should already have elected a new Speaker of Parliament, who would have taken over from Haxhiu and assumed the role of Acting President of Kosovo. This has once again opened up new legal dilemmas and potential legal disputes,” he pointed out.

Gogic also recalled that Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti had won every election since 2021 after Hashim Thaci went to The Hague, adding that the verdict in the trial of the former KLA leaders, whatever its outcome, would bring one political cycle to a close.

“It appears that Kurti is aware of this and does not actually want to risk new elections after the verdict, regardless of whether Thaci returns to Kosovo afterward. What matters to Kurti is at least reaching the third round of the presidential election. There is certainly a majority for that. It is clear that the Serb List will not participate in those negotiations, which already means nine fewer MPs. Now there will be a battle for every parliamentary seat, because one or two seats could make the difference between having and not having a quorum, in which case any agreement would carry no weight,” Gogic concluded.