The Constitutional Court has once again weighed in amid questions over the constitutionality of the formation of two of Kosovo’s main institutions.

The Court ruled that Parliament had been constituted, although it found that this had taken place after the expiry of the 30-day constitutional deadline, and that exceeding this deadline triggered the countdown for the election of the President.

According to the Constitutional Court, the deadline began running on 8 August, and the President must be elected no later than 6 October.

The Court also found that the formation of the government led by Albin Kurti is in line with the Constitution.

The ruling by the country’s highest court comes after the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) challenged both the constitution of Parliament and the formation of the government.

The Constitutional Court also rejected the request to impose an interim measure suspending the work of Parliament.

As for Parliament, which was constituted on 13 September and followed several hours later by the election of the government, the Constitutional Court said that lawmakers must also elect a deputy speaker from the second-largest parliamentary group.

Parties’ reactions

The PDK welcomed the Constitutional Court’s decision, saying that it addresses concerns it had raised over the exceeding of constitutional deadlines and the need for the country to have functioning institutions.

The party called for Parliament to convene as soon as possible.

“Parliament has 13 days to complete the constitution process, vote on the draft law amending and supplementing the Law on Specialist Chambers, elect the President, and avoid unnecessary snap elections,” the PDK said in a statement.

The PDK has made amending the Law on the Specialist Chambers of Kosovo in The Hague one of its priorities, after the court’s first-instance panel on September 16 sentenced four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to a combined 81 years in prison for war crimes – a verdict that the PDK considers unjust and politically motivated.

Meanwhile, the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) has not issued an official position following the Constitutional Court’s ruling, although some of its officials have commented on the matter.

LVV lawmaker Vigan Qorolli said that if the country goes to snap elections, the opposition will be to blame.

“Within two weeks, by 6 October, the President of the Republic must be elected. So, PDK, LDK and AAK: either we sit down, vote and complete this institutional process, or the country goes to elections in mid-November. Let us elect the President. If not, you alone will be responsible,” Qorolli said.

The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) has not yet officially reacted to the decision. Meanwhile, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) said that the country is heading towards elections because of Albin Kurti.

“We have clearly and in good time demonstrated that, since 7 June until today, the party that won the previous elections has been deliberately dragging out the process only to take the country back to elections. The Alliance has highlighted this countless times,” AAK leader Ardian Gjini said.

What does the constitutional court’s decision mean?

The Court’s finding that Parliament was constituted beyond the constitutional deadline, while at the same time ruling that the government formed by that Parliament does not violate the Constitution, has raised questions among many members of the public.

In essence, according to constitutional law professor Mazllum Baraliu, this could be considered contradictory. However, he told OBCT that the Court took into account the difficult political situation, describing the ruling as constructive and affirmative.

“Amid this whirlwind of disagreements, differing views and the conduct of political parties, the Constitutional Court has found a Solomonic solution, understanding the state of national emergency in which we find ourselves, in order to reconcile, as much as possible, every contradictory or insufficiently clear action with concrete measures that it has set out in the ruling. And I think it has done well,” Baraliu said.

The deadlock over the president

The presidency has been a key issue in Kosovo for some time, as the failure to reach consensus on the election of a new head of state was also the reason snap elections were held in June.

Since 4 April, Kosovo has had an acting president. Under the Constitution, this function cannot be exercised for more than six months, meaning not beyond 4 October.

Following several rounds of talks between LVV leader Albin Kurti and LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku, the parties reached an agreement at the end of August on a consensus president, and the two parties nominated Bekim Sejdiu for the post.

However, one day after the agreement was announced, it emerged that six LDK lawmakers did not support the candidacy, making it impossible to secure the 81 votes required for the presidential election process.

Later, on 14 September, Sejdiu announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy due to insufficient support.

In this situation, Professor Baraliu has called on political parties to urgently use the remaining days of the deadline to reach an agreement on the presidency in order to avoid new elections.

Specifically, Baraliu referred to the situation following the first-instance conviction by the Specialist Chambers in The Hague of former KLA leaders.

“They must act urgently, counting the seconds, not the minutes or days, and move forward with the necessary preparations, either through a national roundtable or in Parliament with a resolution to establish a strategy, without wasting time in preparing the appeal of the judgment before the second instance of this court, which issued a draconian decision, unprecedented in the annals of international justice,” Baraliu told OBCT.

Kosovo risks heading towards new elections, which would be the fourth since February 2025, if political parties fail to reach an agreement to elect a new head of state by 6 October.