Members of the Kosovo Assembly did not grant their trust to Albulena Haxhiu from the Vetëvendosje Movement to become the Speaker of the ninth legislature, elected in the February 9 elections.
Her nomination for Speaker was put to a vote twice, but in both rounds, she only received 57 votes in favor — not enough to secure the position.
Following this, the acting chair of the session, Avni Dehari, adjourned the meeting and announced that the Assembly would continue the constitution process on Monday at 15:00.
However, unlike the previous two sessions, on April 19 the deputies approved a new report from the temporary Commission for the Verification of Mandates and Quorum.
This step then paved the way for the swearing-in of the newly elected Members of Parliament.
These two points had previously failed to pass due to objections from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), who argued that government members elected as MPs should have resigned earlier in order to be sworn in as part of the new legislature.
During the continued session on April 19, however, these parties stated that individual resignations from government members had been officially recorded in the Assembly. This claim was contested by Vetëvendosje.
Albin Kurti had informed the Assembly on April 15 that he and other government members had been in resignation status since March 23, when the four-year executive mandate officially ended.
Still, PDK, LDK, and AAK argued that a person cannot be sworn in as an MP and continue to serve in the executive branch at the same time.
It remains unclear whether, after taking the oath as MPs, Kurti and the ministers who were also elected will continue to perform duties in the outgoing government.
According to the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, a constitutive session that is adjourned must be resumed within 48 hours.
Now, only two steps remain for the Assembly to be considered fully constituted: the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers.
Once the Assembly is constituted, the path opens for the formation of Kosovo’s new government. No single party has secured enough votes to govern alone. Vetëvendosje, which previously expressed a desire to form a government without the Serb List, has recently changed its stance, stating that it will also need cooperation from one of the Albanian parties represented in the Assembly.
The other Albanian parties that have won seats in the Kosovo Assembly have said they do not prefer cooperation with Vetëvendosje.
As Kosovo remains without new institutions two months after the elections, the European Union has emphasized that it is “essential” for the country to form a new government as soon as possible, in order to push forward important reforms “across all sectors, which will improve the quality and living conditions for the people of Kosovo.”
