All parliamentary political entities in Kosovo have so far stated that they do not vote for each other’s candidate for president, although no names have been proposed yet, except for the self-proclaimed candidacy of the chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj. While political parties in Kosovo do not show any signs of political consensus on the new name of the President, everyone thought that this issue would lead Kosovo to early elections, on Monday came another decision, the decision of the Constitutional Court that leads the country to early elections.
The Constitutional Court considers the vote of the current Government with Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti a failed one. The government led by the centre-right Democratic League of Kosovo was elected by 61 deputies in the Balkan country’s 120-seat parliament after weeks of legal wrangling following dismissal of the previous government. The Self-Determination Movement (LVV) has contested the vote of an MP, as a vote that was critical for the formation of the Hoti government, knowing that that MP was convicted at the time he voted. LVV has been insisting that Kosovo will hold elections since the fall of the Kurti Government in March, and after them, as provided by the constitution, in parliament to elect the new president.
In fact, the political scene in Kosovo did not expect such a decision, the most expected option would be to send the Hoti government on a re-vote in parliament. This decision of the Constitution does not give discretion to anyone. This is the final decision that obliges the acting President just announces the election. So there are no parliamentary elections without the dissolution of the Assembly, but if the Assembly is dissolved, the position of the Speaker of the Assembly is lost, which is the basis of the legality of the acting President of Kosovo. In this case, the clause is activated for the Acting President of Kosovo to be the President of the Constitutional Court, according to the function to express the unity of the people and the institution.
Meanwhile, the decisions of the Hoti Government remain in force and the Hoti Government remains in office until the election of the new Government which is expected to be held in early February 2021. But do frequent elections make good sense for the political scene in Kosovo? The answer is no. Frequent elections disrupt the political consensus in the country.
Kosovo is entering an announced political and institutional crisis and the indictment for war crimes against President Thaci, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Kadri Veseli and others has contributed to this. The political class in Kosovo currently seems preoccupied with the upcoming elections, forgetting the processes that require political unity, such as the dialogue with Serbia and other high-priority issues for Kosovo.
The political battle in the next elections will be much bigger than in the previous ones, there will be higher political polarization, which will damage the European future for Kosovo. The largest opposition party LVV, which was is expected to win the majority of votes is a party with history of violence of blocking institutions and throwing gas at the National Assembly to stop works. On the other hand, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (center-right), is missing its leadership and this is in great disadvantage to win the elections even with a pre-election coalition with other small political parties. The followers are more angry than ever.
The center-right Democratic League of Kosovo is not in a good situation too, due to the fact that acting President Vjosa Osmani is from the LDK and has consistently supported LVV. This political situation seems to go in favor of the Self-Determination Movement (LVV), which was ousted from power in March this year by a no-confidence motion initiated by the LDK with which they were in the governing coalition. The leader of the Self-Determination Movement, Albin Kurti, has been criticized as a Prime Minister of Kosovo for mishandling and damaging relations with the US and the EU.
At the time when the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci was summoned to The Hague, charged of war crimes and crimes against humanity at The Hague. He resigned from his post just hours earlier. In accordance with the constitutional obligations, after the resignation of the President of the country Hashim Thaçi, the Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani has officially taken over the office of Acting President of Kosovo. The Constitution stipulates that this post cannot be exercised for more than six months, while the term of office of the President officially ends in April 2021.
