Rapajic: Constitutional Court will respond quickly if Haxhiu approaches it, strict deadlines for possible elections

Program Director of the NGO Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture from North Mitrovica Aleksandar Rapajic says that if Kosovo's acting president Albulena Haxhiu approaches the Constitutional Court with a question regarding her mandate in that position, the court will respond quickly by extending the mandate of the president of the Assembly so that she can perform the duties of Kosovo's president until a president is elected.

Rapajic says that the regulations provide for the president of the Assembly to perform the duties of Kosovo's president for a maximum of six months, with the expectation that a president would be elected during that period, and that there is a legal gap regarding a scenario in which a president is not elected.

“Obviously, we now have a situation in which a president has not been elected, and there is uncertainty about what happens in that case. Does one person continue to perform the duties of president, or should someone else be elected to perform that function? I believe that the Constitutional Court will answer this question very quickly simply by extending the mandate of the president of the Assembly so that she can perform the duties of Kosovo's president until a president is elected, which is also the case in the legislation of many other countries,” he told Kosovo Online.

In the event that the Constitutional Court is approached, Rapajic does not believe that this will affect the date of the next election if a president is not elected.

“It is obvious that Self-Determination wants to organize the election at the end of December, more precisely on December 27, because that suits them due to the diaspora coming to Kosovo at that time, and they hope to have strong support among the diaspora. However, the Constitutional Court was very explicit in its decision and set very strict deadlines, namely that if a president is not elected by October 6, an election must be held within 45 days. I would not be surprised if Self-Determination once again finds some creative way to circumvent this, but I think that will be very difficult because the Constitutional Court's decision is very clear and specific and sets an exact deadline in days by which this must be done,” Rapajic said.