Miftaraj: If the president is not elected within the deadline, Kosovo will enter chaos

The Executive Director of the Kosovo Law Institute, Ehat Miftaraj, stated that, in the absence of a political agreement on the election of the president, Kosovo could enter an institutional deadlock from which, at least from a constitutional perspective, there would be no way out, Gazeta Blic reports.

“There is concern that, in the absence of a political agreement and the will of the ruling party, we may have a constituted Assembly on 6 August, and perhaps even a formed government, but it will then be problematic to secure a sufficient number of votes for the election of the president, so that the entire institutional infrastructure can be established and the state can move forward. In the absence of an agreement on the president, we will enter a deadlock that will have no solution. If the president is not elected within 60 days from the day the parliament is constituted, Kosovo will, for the first time, embark on a path from which there will be no way out, at least in constitutional terms. And at that point I fear that it will become problematic, in a way a path without an exit and without a solution,” Miftaraj said.

He also criticized the opposition parties, saying that they have neither an idea nor a genuine intention to contribute to resolving the crisis.

“Kosovo practically has no opposition. We have the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic League of Kosovo, which seem to live in some other universe. Neither one nor the other has an idea or a good intention to contribute to resolving the crisis and the problems, so that Kosovo can have institutions, but also responsibility for preserving the strategic interests of the Republic of Kosovo,” Miftaraj told Gazeta Blic.

According to him, opposition parties should focus on issues such as a possible agreement on the election of the president, Kosovo’s long-term policies, strategic dialogue with the United States, dialogue with Serbia, integration into the European Union, as well as population emigration.

“The entire debate comes down to whether there will be 80 votes and whether someone will become president, but there is no substantive dialogue about the conditions that could lead to an agreement with the ruling party. In this way, the ruling party is given free rein and, in a certain sense, Albin Kurti and Self-Determination decide whether we will have elections or whether we will embark on a path that has no constitutional exit,” Miftaraj said.

He also pointed out that the six-month mandate of the acting president expires on 8 October, which, according to him, could lead to institutional chaos.

“After 8 October, Kosovo can hold elections, it can do whatever it wants, but at that point we will not have the key institution, the President of the Republic of Kosovo, who gives the mandate to the party that wins the elections to form the government. After 8 October, Kosovo will enter chaos if the president is not elected,” Miftaraj warned.