Pavkovic: Self-Determination has also missed constitutional deadlines in the past, Kurti is just buying time

Milos Pavkovic, director of strategy at the European Policy Centre, says it is not unusual for Self-Determination to miss constitutional deadlines, as this has happened before, and that the Constitutional Court has only issued statements on the matter in certain situations.

Regarding the Assembly session scheduled for September 9, Pavkovic told Kosovo Online that this is a kind of internal deadline set by Self-Determination, when it will probably put the election of the government and president to a vote.

“What is problematic is that, although they have a joint candidate with the LDK, the question is whether they have enough votes to elect the president, given the factions within the LDK itself and the dissatisfaction of some MPs with the proposed candidate. So I still interpret this as another attempt to buy time. As for the Constitutional Court, I am not sure it will issue a ruling if there is political pressure. First, if a constitutional complaint is formally filed by one of the actors and if, of course, there is political pressure, which we can see exists among the opposition parties, which have even tried some simulations in parliament and are considering protests, I think this will affect the court's position, that is, its ability to rule on the violation of the deadlines,” Pavkovic told Kosovo Online.

Regarding how the opposition will respond in the Assembly at the session scheduled for September 9 and whether there is a risk of incidents, Pavkovic said that such a possibility exists.

“Although I am not sure what the opposition would gain from that. I think it is not in the opposition's interest to obstruct the work of parliament and thereby buy Kurti additional time. I think the opposition wants to expose Kurti as someone who does not respect the Constitution, as someone who does not have a majority and as someone who should be discredited and delegitimized. So I think the opposition's position is ultimately to expose Kurti's inability, not necessarily to form a government, but to actually elect a president, which is the essence of the political problem in Kosovo,” Pavkovic said.

Our interviewee pointed out that there is a strong likelihood that new elections will now be held.

“We can see that there is serious concern that the candidate proposed by Self-Determination and the LDK does not have the necessary majority to be elected president. On the other hand, there is the issue of the verdict in the case of Hashim Thaci and his potential return to Kosovo, which could further muddy the waters in the political crisis that already exists. I think Kurti's backup plan is to count on new parliamentary elections, with the aim of pushing the postponement of the entire process as late as possible into the autumn, or even winter, when voters from the diaspora traditionally return to Kosovo and vote in large numbers, which has been a strong card for him. Whether this will remain a strong card for Kurti remains to be seen. It will also depend on the fate of Hashim Thaci in The Hague,” Pavkovic concluded.