Pavkovic: Court’s decision was the only possible one; If a Serbian Vice President is not elected, a new crisis will follow

Milos Pavkovic, Director of Strategy at the Belgrade-based Center for European Policies, told Kosovo Online that the position taken by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo—that the Kosovo Assembly has not been constituted—was the only ruling the Court could have issued, as it was the sole option consistent with the Constitution, laws of Kosovo, and prior practice.

Given that the Constitutional Court instructed deputies to elect, within 12 days, the fifth vice president of parliament from the Serbian community, Pavkovic noted that this is the first time the election of a vice president has been separated in this way, raising the question of what consequences this decision may have for future constitutive sessions.

“We currently have four elected vice presidents, while the fifth will be elected later. The key issue now is who will be chosen, and what happens if there is a deadlock. We know that Self-Determination has nominated Rasic, while the Serb List holds nine out of a possible ten parliamentary seats. One option is for Rasic to be elected, another is that someone from the Serb List is chosen, and the third is that no one is elected at all—which opens a new question and a new constitutional crisis, since the Constitutional Court left unresolved in its July ruling what happens if the parliament is not constituted,” Pavkovic explained.

If the Assembly is not constituted within the 12-day deadline, he added, a new ruling by the Constitutional Court would be required to definitively determine whether the parliament is dissolved, and by whom, since technically it was never constituted, or whether extraordinary elections should be called.

In the next 12 days, he stressed, political negotiations will inevitably take place, with a crucial moment being the local elections scheduled for October 12.

“I believe all parties will shift their focus to the local elections, and the results will strongly influence the further course of the Assembly’s constitution. If, for example, Self-Determination achieves a strong result or a major upset by winning a majority of municipalities, their chances of completing the process of constituting the Assembly and forming a government will increase. Conversely, if the opposition performs better and secures more cities and municipalities, this will certainly strengthen their hand—allowing them to potentially push through their own candidate, negotiate over the choice of candidate, or press for snap parliamentary elections, where they may expect to fare better than in February. But it is very difficult to predict which option is more realistic,” he concluded.