Rapajic: A new request to the Constitutional Court likely in order to align elections with October 12

Program Director of the NGO Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture from North Mitrovica, Aleksandar Rapajic, stated for Kosovo Online that, following the expiration of the deadline set by the Constitutional Court for the constitution of the parliament, the next likely step will be for the President of Kosovo to submit a request to the Constitutional Court asking what can be done next. He emphasized that this question would aim to delay the announcement of elections so that they can be held together with the local elections on October 12.

“If the current deadlines are respected, after the failure to form the Assembly, the President has 30 days to call elections, and early elections must be held 45 days after being announced. Given these deadlines, it would be impossible to hold elections on October 12 — they would have to be held several weeks earlier. It makes no sense to go to the polls twice in such a short time. That’s why the President will ask the Constitutional Court what to do next, and this will delay everything by a week or two, in order to align the elections with the local ones on October 12,” Rapajic stated.

He assessed that the current situation benefits Self-Determination and the current government the most, noting: “Kurti’s government is still governing.”

“We see that despite having done much worse in the elections and lacking the majority needed to form a government in the Assembly, Kurti’s government continues to rule. And it does not function as a technical government — it makes decisions as any regular government would: spending the budget, announcing tenders, and making important decisions — which a technical government should not be doing. This benefits Self-Determination because they continue to govern without winning the elections,” he pointed out.

If parliamentary elections are held on October 12, Rapajic says that final results could be expected in early November, which would mean the Assembly could be formed by New Year’s — “if it gets formed at all.”

“In essence, Kurti’s government is prolonging its power for another year,” Rapajic stressed.

He believes that no scenarios other than new elections are viable.

“It is impossible for the current Assembly to continue its work and for these MPs to try once again to form the Assembly. I don't think those scenarios are realistic. The most likely outcome is new elections — which, given the current circumstances and balance of power, might actually be the best solution. Perhaps we should have gone to elections even earlier,” Rapajic concluded.