KDI Chief: MAPL Guide complicates the situation in the north

KDI Executive Director Ismet Kryeziu has said administrative instruction exceeds the law on local self-government and the election body. According to him, this instruction drafted by the MAPL even further complicates the situation and creates opportunities for political subjects to complain and drag on as a process.

The administrative guidance “regarding the citizens' initiative to remove mayors exceeds the law on local self-government and organise elections. This passage of the law is not in service of solutions to problems in the north, rather it complicates the situation further and allows this directive to be prosecuted for complaint by political subjects and to drag this process to a timeline needed for constitutional interpretation”, he said.

Kryeziu has indicated that in any option for the dismissal of the mayors through petition, changes are required to be made to the law on local self-government. He adds that without legal changes, no civic or petition initiatives can be organised through administrative instruction.

“In each option for the dismissal of the mayors through the petition, which is defined by the provision of Article 72, it is required to make changes to the law on local self-government. Without these legal changes, it cannot be that civic initiatives or petitions are organised through administrative instruction that reduces or exceeds these rights, which are the constitutional category”, Kryeziu said.

He has said that the deadline and procedures for holding elections cannot be dictated by state leaders, but by the will of citizens in the north to follow these procedures. Kryeziu says that if the parties agree, the process of declaring elections could take up to 100 days.

But if Serbs refuse to exploit the petition rights, Kryeziu says no one can announce new elections.

The time limit and elections-holding procedures cannot be dictated by the heads of state institutions, but by the will of the northern citizens to follow these procedures and steps defined by the Government of Kosovo. But if the parties agree that the elections go through this administrative instruction, then the process could take up to 100 days. And if citizens there refuse to follow these procedures, neither the government nor anyone can announce and organise new elections”, he said.

KDIA Executive Director reiterates that the resignation of current leaders in the north is the most effective solution to pave the way for new elections in the north.

Otherwise, this process, apart from the necessary petition and legal base, will again continue to have the need for a political agreement through Brussels. KDI considers the resignations of the current mayors of the northern municipalities as the most efficient solution, not the dismissal of mayors and the organisation of elections contrary to constitution”, he said. /Express