KDI: At least ten MPs should immediately refer the matter to the Constitutional Court

The Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) stated that the situation surrounding the constitution of the Assembly is absurd and unacceptable, noting that the mandatory 30-day deadline has expired without the Assembly being constituted. KDI believes that at least ten MPs should immediately refer to the Constitutional Court the decisions and actions taken after the deadline expired and seek answers to several fundamental questions.

KDI pointed out that the Self-Determination Movement failed to exercise its right and exclusive responsibility to nominate a candidate for Speaker of the Assembly. It added that, even after the deadline had expired, the party declined to present a candidate and requested additional time, thereby, according to KDI, deliberately prolonging the institutional deadlock.

"This situation has now gone beyond the level of political disagreement among parliamentary parties. The expiration of the deadline without the Assembly being constituted has created a direct constitutional issue regarding the validity of any further proceedings. A nomination submitted after the deadline, a new 48-hour adjournment, or a possible political agreement cannot, in themselves, erase the consequences of the failure to act within the prescribed deadline," KDI said in a statement posted on Facebook.

According to the Institute, no political entity can unilaterally determine the consequences of the expiration of a constitutional deadline or attempt to resolve them by creating a fait accompli. KDI stated that this authority belongs to the Constitutional Court as the final authority on the interpretation of the Constitution.

"Therefore, KDI believes that at least ten MPs should immediately refer to the Constitutional Court the decisions and actions taken after the expiration of the deadline, seeking answers to several fundamental questions," the statement added.

According to KDI, these questions include whether the failure to exercise the right to nominate a candidate within the prescribed deadline has exhausted the mandate of the current Assembly to complete the constitutive process, what legal validity should be accorded to actions taken after the deadline expired, and which constitutional procedure should be followed from this point onward, including the possibility of calling new elections.

"Kosovo needs institutions that emerge from a constitutional solution, rather than improvised political arrangements, so that every subsequent step has a constitutional basis and dangerous precedents are not established for the functioning of the institutions of the Republic," the KDI statement concluded.