Hasani: The mayors in the north have no legitimacy, the instruction for removal is unconstitutional; the solution is resignation

The former President of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, Enver Hasani, said that the administrative instruction of the Ministry of Local Self-Government Administration for the removal of the mayors was contrary to the Constitution, as well as that the Government showed a lack of will to solve the situation in the north of Kosovo, RFE reports.

Hasani bases his position on the unconstitutionality of the instruction on the lack of the Law on Citizen Initiative or Referendum.

Among other things, Hasani, currently a Professor of Law and International Relations at the University of Pristina, said that the most appropriate decision to solve the situation in the north was the resignation of the mayors of the four municipalities where the majority of the Serbs lived.

According to the Law on Local Self-Government, early elections for mayors are held in three cases: if the mayor resigns, if the citizens petition for his dismissal, and if the mayor does not appear at his workplace for more than a month, without reason, and Hasani explains how the removal of the mayor by petition should look like.

"Replacement by petition has two phases. The first phase is an initiative that needs to be supported by 20 percent of the voters, and the second phase is the phase of organizing elections. Where there is a petition, the question must be asked: 'Are you in favor of the removal of the mayor? Yes or No.' "This is how it is formulated. This formulation cannot be made by the Ministry of Local Self-Government. Only the law does that, the law must be passed. It cannot be done according to instructions," he said.

When asked if the instruction, after it was adopted, would be valid for other municipalities, and not only for those in the north, Hasani points out that it is a document that is valid for the whole of Kosovo.

"It can be seen that this instruction was given by people who know justice, despite the fact that it is unconstitutional and illegal. It does not only apply to the northern municipalities but also to the whole of Kosovo. Through this kind of instruction, all election results can be canceled in six months, which is prohibited and is completely unconstitutional. Forty-five days are mentioned. Why is that deadline mentioned, with what right? There must be legal authority. Where are the powers of the Central Election Commission, through the administrative instruction of the Ministry? The CEC is an authority, an administrative authority itself. They and the Ministry of Local Government are equal before the law. They apply the law, directly. They take their guidance from the law, not from each other," Hasani said.

He emphasizes that there is no political will to resolve the issue of changing the mayors and new elections in the north.

He believes that the Government could have sat down with the opposition and come to an agreement - that international partners and friends of Kosovo, according to their legislative framework, do not recognize the elections held in April and that the results of those elections and the new mayors are illegitimate.

"Mayors can be told either not to go to work for a month, or to resign. It is much more dignified to resign and not go to work than to leave with a petition. That way, only five or six months later, the Government opposes its thesis that the mayors are legitimate. They are not legitimate there. They are legal, according to the laws and the Constitution of Kosovo, but there is zero legitimacy," Hasani concluded.