Kosovo’s parliament has once again failed to elect a new deputy president from the Serbian community, prompting the Constitutional Court to suspend the formation of any new-look institutions emerging from last February’s elections. A constitutional complaint regarding this failure is currently under review.
On Friday September 5th, the Kosovo Constitutional Court ruled that MPs are prohibited from taking any further steps toward forming a government until September 30th. The decision follows a complaint by the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party, which argued that the Serbian community’s representative was not elected as one of the Assembly’s vice presidents during the parliamentary sessions held on August 26 and 28—a position guaranteed by the constitution.
On August 30, Dimal Basha, the newly elected president of the Vetëvendosje party—which won the February elections—announced the formal establishment of parliament. At the time, he stated that
the failure to elect one of the five vice presidents [from the Serbian community] … cannot be an obstacle to the formation of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo.
Normally, once the president convenes the parliamentary session, key state institutions—including the government itself—can be formed.
However, in response to Srpska Lista’s complaint, the court ordered the suspension of all decisions and actions taken by elected Assembly members, along with any further steps toward forming a government. Srpska Lista also argued that the separate election of vice presidents from non-majority communities was unlawful, as parliamentary procedure requires that “the election of vice presidents must be conducted in a single procedure … without the possibility of selective division.”
This marks the fourth time the Constitutional Court has been called upon to review the activities of the new parliament since the February 9 elections. For now, the caretaker government remains in place.
The decision comes within weeks of formally completing the drawn-out process of appointing a Speaker in the Kosovo parliament.
