Gogic: The question is whether Osmani will accept the interpretation that the Kosovo Assembly has been constituted

Political analyst Ognjen Gogic stated that it is up to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani to decide whether to accept the position of the newly elected Speaker of Parliament, Dimal Basha, that the “Assembly has been constituted,” since this would automatically mean moving into the process of forming a new government, but at the same time would trigger a new appeal by Albanian opposition parties to the Constitutional Court.

“Apart from the Serbian List questioning the manner of election—or rather the non-election—of the Serbian deputy speaker of the Assembly, there is now an open question of whether Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani will accept Speaker Baša’s interpretation that the ‘Assembly has been constituted.’ If she determines that the Assembly is constituted, then the steps to form a government must follow, and as President of Kosovo she must give the mandate to the election winner to form the government,” Gogic told Kosovo Online.

He explained that there is no precisely defined deadline for her to do so, but that past practice has been to “do it without delay.”

“So, if she concludes that the Assembly has been constituted, she should without delay give the mandate to the election winner—that is Self-Determination, or the acting Prime Minister Kurti. After that, he has 15 days to present his cabinet,” Gogic clarified.

He emphasized that this would also be the key moment when opposition parties, aside from the Serbian List’s complaint, could appeal to the Constitutional Court.

“This could lead to a situation where the opposition parties, regardless of the Serbian List’s complaint, argue that the Assembly has not been constituted, that the President could not have given Kurti the mandate to form a government at all, and then they themselves would file an appeal. In that case, the Constitutional Court would have to act more quickly, because consequences could already follow. That reaction would in fact accelerate the Court’s response,” Gogic stressed.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani met yesterday with the newly elected Speaker of the Kosovo Parliament, Dimal Basha. In a statement released after the meeting, it was noted that “the Presidency’s legal team is conducting an analysis regarding the process of constituting the Kosovo Assembly.”