Spahiu: The position of president will not be important to Kurti once the chief prosecutor and some ambassadors are appointed

Political analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu believes that Albin Kurti will use the 60-day period, which is the deadline for electing Kosovo's president after the parliament is constituted, to keep Albulena Haxhiu in the position of acting president until a chief prosecutor and several ambassadors are appointed. After that, he believes, the position of president will be less important to Kurti and he will be able to hand it over to the opposition.

Looking at the number of seats won, Spahiu says that Albin Kurti could reach an agreement on the presidency with either the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) or the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), but he will probably not accept Vjosa Osmani as a candidate.

"Together with his coalition partners, Kurti has 62 MPs, while the LDK has 18, which makes a total of 80, meaning that a president could be elected. The same applies to the Democratic Party of Kosovo, which has 22 seats. The numbers do not allow for any meaningful agreement with Ramush Haradinaj because he has only seven MPs," Spahiu told Kosovo Online.

In his view, Kurti has the upper hand in negotiations over the presidency because he can form a government on his own.

"He can ask the Democratic League of Kosovo to propose two candidates, since the Constitution requires that there be two candidates for president. If the LDK refuses to nominate two candidates, he can put forward one of his own and would still win. Therefore, they will have to propose two candidates, and then Kurti will choose the one that suits him better. The Democratic Party of Kosovo can also submit a proposal, and then he can choose the candidate he prefers from among three or four names. Because of the number of votes he secured, he is in a very favorable position," Spahiu said.

Asked whether international actors would exert pressure to ensure that an agreement on the presidency is reached so that Kosovo does not go to the polls again before the end of the year, Spahiu said that foreign actors appear to have decided not to interfere in Kosovo's internal affairs as long as their interests are not threatened.

"Kosovo is so small that it cannot threaten the interests of the major powers. Since it has been 18 years since independence, which is the age of adulthood for a nation just as it is for an individual, they will probably continue not to interfere in this process," he said.

In his assessment, the question of whether a government or a president should be elected first is irrelevant because, if a government is elected, it will be the same one that already exists.

"Kurti has the necessary number of MPs in parliament for that, and even if a new government is not elected, the current caretaker government will remain in office. Kurti's government is not really doing anything anyway, so it makes no difference whether it is a caretaker government or a government with full powers. What matters is reaching an agreement on the president, and I hope that will happen within 60 days of the parliament being constituted," Spahiu said.