Kosovo has until October 6 to elect a new president. If the Assembly fails to do so, what follows is clear: the Assembly is dissolved and snap elections are called. But what is far less clear is who would exercise the powers of the president afterward.
The Constitutional Court, in its latest judgment on cases KO256/26 and KO258/26, established that the 60-day deadline for electing the president began on August 8 and ends on October 6.
This is directly linked to Article 82 of the Constitution, under which the Assembly is dissolved if the president is not elected within 60 days from the start of the presidential election procedure.
Therefore, if a president is not elected by October 6, a separate decision by the Assembly to dissolve itself is not required — the constitutional provision for dissolution is automatically triggered.
The Court had clarified this principle earlier as well. In its March 2026 judgment, it found that failure to elect a president within the constitutional deadline leads to the dissolution of the Assembly and early elections, which must be held within 45 days.
But this raises another constitutional problem: who remains at the helm of the state?
Under normal circumstances, the powers of the president would be exercised by the speaker of the Assembly, who would serve as acting president.
However, in the current situation, this constitutional solution has become complicated by the fact that Assembly Speaker Albulena Haxhiu has already served in that capacity for six months.
Haxhiu assumed the duties of president after Vjosa Osmani’s term ended on April 4. However, under Article 90, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, the position of acting president “may not be exercised for a period longer than six months.”
That six-month period expired on Sunday, October 4.
Constitutional uncertainty
This is precisely where a gap emerges that the Constitution does not explicitly address: who exercises presidential powers once the maximum six-month term of the acting president has expired, while a new president has still not been elected?
According to interpretations by several civil society organizations in Kosovo, the six-month limit under Article 90 is absolute. Under this interpretation, Haxhiu cannot continue exercising presidential powers simply because a new president has not yet been elected.
Naim Jakaj of the Kosovo Law Institute argues that, following the expiration of the deadline, the country is left without a valid acting president.
Speaking to Radio Free Europe, Jakaj said this creates a risk of constitutional chaos because, without a president, several important state functions could remain unexercised.
“The president is also the Supreme Commander of the Kosovo Security Force. If the country is left without a president and without an acting president with a valid mandate, there will be no person exercising this function,” Jakaj said.
Jakaj added that the acting presidency was intended as a temporary solution, during which political parties were expected to reach an agreement on electing a president.
“Unfortunately, so far, it has been seen more as a question of which party gets the position than as a process focused on the criteria the president should meet,” he said.
This constitutional gap therefore creates an immediate practical problem: if the Assembly fails to elect a new president by midnight tonight, who would exercise the other powers reserved for the president under the Constitution, and who would call the early elections?
In an analysis published on October 2, the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI), examining the exercise of presidential duties beyond the six-month limit, concluded that the Constitution does not clearly specify who exercises presidential powers after that period expires.
KDI called on Assembly Speaker Albulena Haxhiu, in her capacity as acting president, or other authorized parties to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court for clarification regarding the exercise of these powers after October 4 and the authority to call elections if a president is not elected.
So far, no such request has been submitted.
Radio Free Europe asked the President’s Office whether Haxhiu could continue exercising presidential powers after the expiration of the six-month term, who would call early elections in the event of the Assembly’s dissolution, and whether clarification would be sought from the Constitutional Court on these issues, but received no response.
The Constitutional Court has so far not explicitly resolved this constitutional gap. According to KDI, the absence of an expressly defined succession mechanism following the expiration of the six-month period creates uncertainty over the exercise of presidential powers.
This is particularly important because some of these powers are necessary to resolve the crisis.
The president, or the acting holder of the position, is responsible for calling parliamentary elections and, after elections, convening the first session of the new legislature.
Therefore, if a president is not elected by October 6, the issue is not simply when the next elections will be held, but also who will have the authority to call them.
According to Jakaj, given that there appears to be no immediate agreement among the political parties, the Assembly should perhaps have proceeded with the presidential vote on Monday, even if the vote were to fail.
“In that case, the acting president could have called the political parties together and set the date for new elections. After the elections, the new Assembly would convene within the constitutional deadline and elect a president. The president would then appoint a nominee to form the government. This would be an urgent option for getting the country out of the deadlock,” Jakaj told Radio Free Europe.
In the absence of a clear constitutional interpretation, this dilemma could once again end up before the Constitutional Court.
