Pavkovic: Three key questions for Constitutional Court; previous rulings sought to minimize impact on situation on the ground

Milos Pavkovic, Strategy Director at the European Policy Centre in Belgrade, told Kosovo Online that there were at least three disputed and key issues for the Constitutional Court concerning the constitution of the Kosovo Assembly and the election of the Government. He said that if the Court found that unconstitutional steps had been taken, the Government could fall and the processes could be returned to the beginning. However, he recalled that in its previous judgments, the Court had sought to minimize its impact on the situation on the ground.

According to Pavkovic, the Constitutional Court should first resolve the disputed issue of the time limit—namely, whether the 30-day deadline for constituting the parliament following the formal completion of the elections had been exceeded.

“The second issue concerns the failure to elect the fifth Deputy Speaker of Parliament. One Deputy Speaker was not elected, yet the Assembly was declared constituted and the Government was subsequently elected. A decision by the Constitutional Court is therefore now expected on whether the Constitution was violated in this respect. There are differing views. The fact is that one party’s candidate was withdrawn, that the party did not nominate another candidate, and that the Assembly was subsequently declared constituted. The third issue concerns the election of the Government—namely, if the parliament had not been properly constituted, whether the election of the Government is therefore also null and void. An adverse ruling by the Court on any of these three issues could lead to the fall of the Government and the process being returned to the beginning,” Pavkovic said.

If the Court rules that the Assembly was not properly constituted, Pavkovic said the most rational course would be to return the matter to the Assembly so that it could complete the constitutive process and then elect the Government again.

“If it is determined that the deadline for constituting the Assembly was exceeded, then the ruling would have to result in early parliamentary elections being called automatically. These are different decisions that the Court could make. However, the fact is that in its previous judgments the Court has sought to minimize the impact on the situation on the ground, in the sense of avoiding extreme outcomes such as repeat elections or similar measures,” Pavkovic recalled.