Election score rules out the possibility of institutional crisis

This crisis causes state institutions to fail to function normally and fail to meet their constitutional and legal duties.

“I do not see the possibility that the Kosovo Government will soon be formed”, Free Europe Donika Emini of the Balkan Policy Consultative Group in Europe tells Radio.

This, because parties should sit to negotiate and negotiations will take a lot of time. It is not expected to be an easy process”, according to her.

What did the February 9 elections bring?

With more than 99 per cent of the votes counted, Prime Minister Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje Movement leads with about 40 per cent of the vote, followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo with about 22%, the Democratic League of Kosovo by about 17% and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo .50 Initiative with about 7%.

For the formation of the new government, the winning party must have 61 deputies, which none currently has.

The figures, however, could change after the bail and diaspora vote count.

In the past four-year term, Kurti has ruled with non-Serb minority parties.

After declaring victory in the February 9th elections, he has voiced confidence that his Vetevendosje will form the government independently.

After the elections, parties now in opposition, the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo have ruled out the coalition's possibility with Vetevendosje. During the pre-election campaign, such a possibility has been dismissed by the Democratic League of Kosovo.

AAK's Ramush Haradinaj has also unveiled the idea of forming government by the opposition, but has not received answers from the LDK's PDK.

Several representatives of minority communities' parties, meanwhile, have said they would principlely support everyone mandated for forming the new government.

“Waiting two-three months or longer”

Ehat Miftaraj from the Kosovo Institute for Justice says there is real danger for Kosovo to get into institutional crisis.

Speaking to Radio Free Europe, he points to insulting and degrading rhetoric, which, he says, uses in front of all Prime Minister Kurti.

In his speech after victory, Kurt has used deignive expressions in the direction of opposition parties.

“They can be understood as a message that the Vetevendosje Movement has no wish, under any circumstances, to coalition with Albanian parties. This is a way of dividing”, Miftaraj says.

He adds that it will take at least two months or two and a half months to figure out whether there will be new governments, or the country will go to extraordinary elections.

At the negotiating table, he says, will be different mathematics. He does not rule out the possibility of Albanian opposition parties forming the new government, making part of the coalition non-US communities without Serbs.

Amy has similar expectations. She thinks there will be no formation of the new government until summer at least, taking into account the results that have produced the elections.

The toxic speech to the opposition indicates that Kurti, in some way, intended to annex the opposition and that she refused to negotiate with him... But, even for the opposition, it's difficult, especially for the LDK, which has been in the coalition [with Kurti] and has experienced the steep decline during that time, Amyni says.

Neither does it rule out the possibility of going to new elections, if the parties fail to agree, but says they would not be a wise solution, considering that Kosovo this year also holds local elections.

I don't think repeating elections can produce any results. What such elections can bring is the failure of citizens to repeat a process with similar results. It would be a waste of time and a tremendous waste of resources”, Emini says.

According to her, Kosovo does not have the luxury for such elections even because of its dynamics and expectations, especially in terms of the resumption of dialogue for normalising relations with Serbia.

“Brend inside, maybe we could work somehow, but in foreign policy we would have serious consequences”, Amyn says.

What happens now?

In the Law for Elections in Kosovo, there is no set deadline for when the Central Election Commission should announce the final results.

So far, several violations have been recorded in the voting counting process for candidates for MPs, as well as there have been obstacles to accessing the CEC site.

When all votes by the CEC and the certificate of results are counted, Kosovo's president calls the Convention Constituent session within 30 days of announcing the results.

MPs swear and elect Speaker of the Parliament and Vice Presidents.

After that procedure, the president gives him the mandate to form the candidate government proposed by the party or the winning coalition.

The candidate for prime minister proposes government composition and the governing programme.

The government is voted by the Assembly with the simple majority of votes (50% + 1 deputies present).

According to Article 95 of the Kosovo Constitution, if the proposed composition of the Government does not get the most necessary votes, the president of the Republic of Kosovo, within ten days, nominated the other candidate under the same procedure.

If not the second time the government is elected, then the president of Kosovo announces the elections, which should be held no later than forty days from the day of their proclamation.

Has there been a crisis before?

Kosovo has had several institutional blockades, largely due to lack of political consensus.

One such occurred after the 2014 general elections.

At the time, The PDK, which came first, failed to secure the majority for government creation.

Opposition Coalition The LDK-AAK-Nisma challenged the PDK's right to propose Parliament Speaker, but the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the PDK and forced the opposition coalition to deal with the PDK.

After several months of blockade, a co-governance agreement between the PDK and LDK was reached, which brought Isa Mustafa to the prime minister's post.

In 2020 there was also a crisis after Kurt's first government collapsed. In March of that year, only after weeks in office, his government collapsed following a no-confidence motion initiated by the coalition partner, the LDK.

Then-President Hashim Thaci gave government formation mandate Avdullah Hoti from the LDK, without announcing new elections.

However, this government faced major political and legal challenges, and after several months it was brought down by the Constitutional Court in late 2020 because of an unconstitutional vote by MP Etem Arifi.

The new elections were held in February 2021, and Vetevendosje won over 50 percent of the vote.

The February 9th elections were the first regular since Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008. /Radio Europe Free