Another attempt to complete the constitution of the Assembly of Kosovo has failed, three months after the early parliamentary elections held on June 7.

During Wednesday’s continuation of the session, Albulena Haxhiu of the Vetëvendosje Movement was re-elected as Speaker of the Assembly.

She received the support of 62 lawmakers to lead the 11th legislature, while 16 voted against and 13 abstained.

However, the process was blocked over the election of the Assembly’s deputy speakers: three from the Albanian parties and two from the non-majority communities. As a result, the session was postponed until Friday, September 11.

The “obstacles” to the constitution of the Assembly

Speaker-elect Haxhiu gave two reasons for not putting the proposed candidates for deputy speakers to a vote.

The first concerns what she described as the unconstitutional nomination of a deputy speaker by the Serbian List, due to the use of the term “Serbian people.”

During the nomination of Slavko Simić for deputy speaker, the party’s representative, Igor Simić, said he was being proposed “on behalf of the Serbian people.”

“There is a Serbian people in Serbia, while the Republic of Kosovo has the people of Kosovo, 92% of whom are Albanians, 4% Serbs and 4% from other communities,” Haxhiu said.

The Serbian List had used the same wording previously in the Kosovo Assembly, but its candidate for deputy speaker had also received votes from the Vetëvendosje Movement itself.

Haxhiu’s second argument for postponing the session was that the candidates nominated by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) did not have the votes “without a prior agreement” on the voting procedure, even though their support was not tested through a vote.

In the past, parliamentary majorities have supported candidates from other parties for deputy speakers without any prior agreement.

Accusations against Vetëvendosje

After the session was suspended, the PDK accused Vetëvendosje of inventing problems to prevent the constitution of the Assembly. PDK lawmaker Përparim Gruda said the latest blockade was another political game by Vetëvendosje.

“The PDK will vote in any form, under any procedure, because this is a historic moment, September 16 is the event. We cannot be without an Assembly on September 16. This is unprecedented; this has not happened in any normal democratic country, where all kinds of obstacles are invented to prevent the constitution of the Assembly,” Gruda said, referring to September 16, when the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague are scheduled to deliver their verdict in the trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders.

LDK lawmaker Jehona Lushaku also blamed Vetëvendosje for the failure to complete the constitution of the Assembly.

“This is an unprecedented situation in which the constitution process is not being continued because the largest parliamentary group does not support the proposals of the other parties for deputy speakers. On behalf of the LDK, I express our indignation over the failure to continue the procedure,” Lushaku said.

Seven lawmakers from the Alliance did not attend the session. The party has argued that Vetëvendosje violated the 30-day constitutional deadline from the certification of the election results, which expired on August 7, as well as the deadline set by the ruling party itself, which expired on September 5.

Alliance leader Ardian Gjini described Wednesday’s failure as yet another deliberate farce by the government, aimed, he said, at ensuring that new elections are held at the end of the year, when it would suit Vetëvendosje most.

“Who knows for how many times, with or without coordination, the Serbian List is helping Albin Kurti pursue his agenda as it suits him. What happened is a farce designed to buy time and delay the establishment of Kosovo’s institutions,” Gjini said.

Regarding the election of deputy speakers, Vetëvendosje leader Albin Kurti said meetings and an agreement with the PDK and LDK were necessary.

“Since the support of the majority is also needed for their proposals, let us be positive and constructive so that we can have a constituted Assembly, a government formed quickly, and move on to the election of the President, which must take place in order to avoid new elections,” Kurti said.

Criticism from civil society

Eugen Cakolli, a senior researcher at the Kosovo Democratic Institute, considers the month-long delay in constituting the Assembly and the violation of constitutional deadlines to be deliberate.

“The aim from the beginning has clearly been not to constitute the Assembly, at least not without ensuring that, if elections are held, they take place on December 27 or January 3. That is why it was essential for the case to be referred to the Constitutional Court, because only a clear legal consequence could have prevented this devaluation of the country’s main institution,” Cakolli said.

Despite criticism and accusations that Vetëvendosje has violated constitutional deadlines, none of the other parties has yet requested clarification from the Constitutional Court.

The agreement on the President

The ruling party postponed the constitution of the Assembly on the grounds that, in order to avoid new elections, a political agreement on the election of the President must first be reached, followed by the formation of the other institutions.

After several meetings, such an agreement was finally reached at the end of August between Vetëvendosje and the LDK, which together would secure the 80 votes required. Former diplomat and former Constitutional Court judge Bekim Sejdiu emerged as the joint candidate for a consensual president.

However, the agreement is being opposed by six LDK lawmakers, an issue that has divided the party into two camps.

They have criticized Sejdiu, describing him as politically biased, while also accusing party leader Lumir Abdixhiku of ignoring them and falling into Kurti’s trap.

Some of these dissenting lawmakers claim that Kurti agreed to Bekim Sejdiu’s candidacy for President precisely because he was certain that it would cause divisions within the LDK.

The failure to elect a President was the main reason that led Kosovo to early elections on June 7.