Kasapolli: The Constitutional Court has no jurisdiction over MPs, I don’t expect drastic decisions

Political analyst Gezim Kasapolli stated that he does not expect “drastic decisions” from the Constitutional Court following the new requests submitted by the PDK (Democratic Party of Kosovo) and the LDK (Democratic League of Kosovo). However, he believes that the institutional crisis could be resolved if the Court clarifies how many times one party can nominate a candidate for Speaker of the Assembly, and whether other parties can then be given that opportunity. He also sees a possible way out of the crisis in applying the same legal framework used for forming a new government to the process of constituting the Assembly.

“I don’t believe the Constitutional Court will impose any drastic measures, because I don’t think it has the authority to do so. The Constitutional Court has no jurisdiction over members of parliament. All experts agree that it is the parliament that elects the judges of the Constitutional Court. That is the problem. The Constitutional Court has no authority over MPs,” Kasapolli told Kosovo Online.

Commenting on the new requests, Kasapolli emphasized that the Constitutional Court can essentially answer only two questions.

“In principle, the Constitutional Court can resolve only two issues. First, to set a limit: how many times a political party can attempt to nominate a candidate for Speaker of the Assembly. And second, whether other political parties have the right to propose their own candidate. Those are the two questions the Constitutional Court could address,” Kasapolli said.

He added that the Constitutional Court’s decision from June 26 imposes a 30-day deadline on MPs “to resolve the issues and constitute a new parliament.”

“What’s missing from that decision, or opinion, are specific measures that should be in place in case the parliament is not formed within those 30 days. It was left up to the MPs to find a political solution. But as we can see, that solution is not coming, because the political parties lack the will to move forward,” Kasapolli pointed out.

He explained that in practice, the Self-Determination Movement refuses to back down from its candidate for Speaker, Albulena Haxhiu, while opposition parties “do not see themselves in that arrangement.”

“So we are back at the beginning again, because the Constitutional Court has not imposed any measures for the situation where a new parliament is not formed after those 30 days,” the analyst said.

He warned that the deadline given by the Constitutional Court is problematic because it is not constitutional.

“That’s the issue. They imposed a deadline that is not constitutional. But in principle, if the Constitutional Court continues setting deadlines, then I believe the best approach would be to apply the same logic used for government formation, 15 days for the first attempt, 10 days for the second, to the parliament as well. That would make more sense,” Kasapolli noted.

Kasapolli rejected the possibility that MPs could face legal consequences for failing to vote.

“I don’t believe the Constitutional Court will go so far as to impose any measures against MPs,” Kasapolli said.