What is expected from the Constitutional Court?

The Constitutional Court must clarify in clear terms the voting method for the Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, as well as show that the 30-day deadline for the constitution of the Assembly has not been exhausted.

This is the assessment of Zahir Çerkini, professor of Constitutional Law at the "Isa Boletini" University in Mitrovica.

He expects the Constitutional Court to reiterate that the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the Assembly should be done by open voting of the deputies.

"That's what the Court said (on June 26), but it said it in more constitutional terms. I expect it to be more open, more articulated in terms of the obligation for the institutions to sit down and vote openly on the constitution of the Assembly, the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the Assembly," Çerkini emphasizes for Radio Free Europe.

To clarify constitutional issues related to the constitution of the Assembly, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the country's president, Vjosa Osmani, have addressed the Constitutional Court.

They are awaiting a new assessment by the Constitutional Court, after its June 26 decision failed to definitively clarify the path for the constitution of the Assembly, A2 reports.

The Constitutional Court, on June 26, gave the deputies of the Assembly of Kosovo 30 days to constitute the Assembly.

But, after 52 attempts, they failed to complete this process.

The President of Kosovo has requested from the Constitutional Court clarification of the legal consequences of the failure to constitute the Assembly within the constitutional deadline of 30 days.

The request was registered as a separate case by the court.

Çerkini expresses the opinion that the Constitutional Court should confirm that this deadline should be restored to the point of leakage, where the session's agenda has deviated.

"I expect the Constitutional Court to show that the 30-day deadline has not yet expired, due to the fact that it has not gone as the Court said, namely to vote on the election of the presidency of the Assembly, namely on the constitution of the Assembly, but there have been continuous attempts to vote on the Commission (for a secret ballot)," says Çerkini.

According to him, this means that the deadline set by the Constitutional Court for the constitution of the Assembly will be returned to the ongoing process, on the day when the chairman of the constitutive session, Avni Dehari, changed the agenda, requesting the Committee to vote by secret ballot.

Dehari proposed the idea of the Secret Voting Commission on May 1, asking political parties for one member for the secret voting commission.

Until then, in the continuation of the constitutive session of the Assembly, which began on April 15, the proposed by the Vetëvendosje Movement for Speaker of the Assembly, Albulena Haxhiu, several times failed to receive the necessary 61 votes of the deputies for this position, through open voting.

The other main parties, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Democratic League of Kosovo, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), have consistently rejected the secret ballot and the proposal of members for the Commission for a secret ballot.

On July 24, the Constitutional Court imposed a temporary measure, meaning that from July 27 to August 8, deputies should not act to constitute the Assembly of Kosovo.

Dehar's actions and repeated candidacy

In early July, PDK appealed to the Constitutional Court for review, contesting the Vetëvendosje Movement's request for proposals for members of the Commission for a secret ballot; the voting on this commission; the voting of the commission itself; and the interruption of the session after the commission's disapproval.

The LDK has also asked the Constitutional Court to clarify the constitutional norms and the rules of procedure of the Assembly of Kosovo regarding the extension of the constitutive session from June 29, following the June 26 verdict. The party believes that the recent extensions of the constitutive session were made "in complete contradiction" with the Constitution of Kosovo, as well as with the findings of the Constitutional Court's June 26 verdict.

Gëzim Shala from the Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) tells Radio Free Europe that the Constitutional Court is expected to assess the legality and constitutionality of the actions of the chair of the constitutive session of the Assembly.

"The actions of Mr. Dehari, in his capacity as chairman of the Assembly session, must also be clarified in a definitive manner, to determine and elaborate on the violations committed by him so far," Shala emphasizes.

He adds that the Constitutional Court should elaborate on the issue of the right to propose a candidate for Speaker of the Assembly, namely whether the Vetëvendosje Movement, as the party with the most votes, has abused this right by continuously proposing the same name, despite not having secured the necessary votes for approval.

"The Constitutional Court has emphasized that in these cases, a compromise is required to move forward and simply, the Court must now indicate how to proceed if there is no compromise," Shala emphasizes.

Professor Çerkini also has a similar opinion, saying that the Constitutional Court should clearly define what happens if the same candidate for Speaker of the Assembly does not receive votes in several consecutive attempts.

"To get out of this situation, it would be good if the Constitutional Court could perhaps also indicate with a positive enumeration (a concrete description, with facts and details listed one after the other) how many times a candidate can be a candidate for Speaker of the Assembly... a certain number should be indicated as to how many times, within how many days, a name can be placed in the candidacy," Çerkini emphasizes.

He added that such clarification does not mean the loss of the right of the first winning party to propose the Speaker of the Assembly.

The Constitutional Court "should exclude elections"

Unable to secure the votes for Speaker of the Assembly, Self-Determination Movement MP Albulena Haxhiu, as early as June, floated the idea of holding extraordinary parliamentary elections, along with local elections, later this year.

This idea was also repeated by her party colleague, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, who, emphasizing the reluctance of certain parties to form a co-government, said that early elections could be a solution.

She also mentioned the possibility of taking the mandate of the Assembly members, as a result of the inability to constitute the Assembly.

Holding early parliamentary elections, due to the impasse over the constitution of the Assembly, has also been seen as a possible option by the Democratic Party of Kosovo. However, its leader Memli Krasniq has ruled out the possibility of holding them together with local elections this year.

LDK has not mentioned the possibility of early elections, while AAK has said that it does not seek them, but is ready if elections are held.

Professor Çerkini emphasizes that the Constitutional Court should not deal with this idea at all.

"The idea that the Constitutional Court could take away the mandate of MPs, sending the country to elections... I think the Court should not do such a thing. It is not up to the Constitutional Court to intervene in political power to send the country to elections," says Çerkini.

Shala from the IKL also agrees with this view. According to him, the failure to constitute the Assembly is not a circumstance foreseen in the Constitution of Kosovo, which would determine the taking of the mandates of the deputies.

Although it is not known exactly what the Constitutional Court's decision will be, Shala says that practices from past decision-making by this Court show that there cannot be new elections through its judgments.

"The Constitutional Court itself, in 2014, said that nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the failure to elect the Speaker of the Assembly leads the country to elections. However, we do not know if the Constitutional Court will change the practice," Shala emphasizes.

Both experts in legal and constitutional matters assess that it remains uncertain when the Constitutional Court may issue clarifications regarding the requests submitted to it by the PDK and LDK, as well as by President Osmani.

However, considering that the Constitutional Court's interim measure, which prohibits the deputies' actions towards the constitution of the Assembly, expires on August 8, they expect that a decision by this court may be announced before this date./ REL (A2 Televizion)