False start for the new Kosovo parliament

The inaugural session of the Kosovo parliament, resulting from the elections held on 9 February, began on 15 April, but was interrupted and the mandates of the deputies were not confirmed. At this session, the parliament is to elect its speaker and deputy speakers.

The results of these elections were confirmed on 27 March. The Self-Determination Movement, led by Albin Kurti, won 48 seats, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) – 24, the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (LDK) – 20 and the AAK-Nisma coalition – 8 seats.

20 seats are reserved for minority communities – 10 for Serbs and 10 for others.

As for the Serb community, a total of nine of these 10 were taken by candidates from the Serbian List and only one by Nenad Rašić, from the For Freedom, Justice and Survival party.

The Kosovo parliament has adjourned its inaugural session before it has even formally begun its work. The session was adjourned because opposition MPs did not support the report of the Verification Commission. They were unhappy that Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the other ministers who were elected as MPs are trying to keep their seats in both the executive and legislative branches, which is prohibited by the Kosovo constitution. According to the law, elected MPs who are part of the Kosovo government – the prime minister, deputy prime minister, minister or deputy minister – must resign from their executive functions. Albin Kurti resigned as prime minister only on April 15, after the inaugural session had already begun.

Without the constitution of the parliament, the formation of a government cannot begin. In the prescribed procedure, there is no deadline for the winning party to propose a candidate for speaker of the parliament.

There is no clear deadline for when the constituent session should end, as the election of the speaker of parliament can take time. According to the constitution, the ruling party nominates the speaker, but a situation may arise where it does not have the support of the opposition for the election, leading to a deadlock. In the event that Self-Determination fails to elect a speaker of the assembly, the entire process is halted and no new terms begin to run.

Once the parliament is constituted (after confirming the mandates of the deputies and electing the speaker and deputy speakers of the parliament), the president must give the mandate to the winning party to try to form a government, but there is no deadline for the president to do so. The person with the mandate of Prime Minister must present the composition of the government to the Kosovo parliament within 15 days of receiving the mandate from the president of Kosovo.

If a government is not formed with the first mandate, the president of Kosovo has ten days to consult again with the political parties and propose a second candidate, who can be from the same party or from another party if he can prove that he has 61 votes (out of 120 members of parliament).

The second candidate in this case again has 15 days to propose a new composition of the government. If this fails, early elections must be held within 40 days of determining that a government cannot be elected. If a new government is not formed soon, new elections could be called as early as June.

Although Kosovo’s laws and constitution provide general guidelines and deadlines for the formation of a parliament and government, some procedural steps are not time-bound, making it difficult to predict when Kosovo will have a new government.

At this stage, it appears that Albin Kurti cannot form a government. Kurti has reached out to the LDK, but so far the party has refused to form a government with him. The 10 seats for the non-Serb minority are unlikely to be won. Duda Balje of the Bosniak coalition Vakat wants a municipality for the Bosniak minority. She is also known for her homophobic comments and opposes Kurti’s proposals for reforms to the Civil Code that would allow same-sex marriage. Fikrim Damka, leader of the Turkish Democratic Party, who is also minister of regional development, may have to give up his seat because he faces criminal charges for assault.

Both Bosniaks and Gorani have demanded their own municipalities, similar to the Association of Serb Municipalities (ASM). Kurti cannot agree to these demands because he would have to implement the agreement establishing the ASM, signed back in 2013.

Previous experience shows that forming a government can take up to six months. The general atmosphere in Kosovo suggests that no one is in a hurry to form a new government. The main reason for this is that there is no clear parliamentary majority. Geopolitical stratification also predisposes to waiting.

Kurti also seems to be deliberately prolonging the process because he does not have enough votes to form a government. In addition, it may turn out that if he resigns from his parliamentary seat and subsequently fails to form a government, he will be left without a political function.

The most likely scenario is that the process of forming a government will drag on and any majority that is eventually formed will be unstable. Kosovo is entering a period of parliamentary crisis, in which maintaining a stable majority will be impossible in the near future.

The situation is complicated by the upcoming election of the President of Kosovo in 2026. Under the current constitutional norms, the President is elected by the Parliament, and if a President is not elected, new elections will have to be held. However, this will not solve the problem, at least not until the Constitution is changed and the President is directly elected by the people.