Although the legal deadlines have come into effect, President Vjosa Osmani has not yet invited political parties for consultations regarding the setting of the local elections date. According to electoral process experts, this delay could affect the preparations for the elections, and they link the situation to unresolved developments in the political scene.
President Vjosa Osmani has still not invited political parties for consultations regarding the date of the local elections, despite the fact that the legal deadline for such action has already started.
The President’s Office has not provided any clarification regarding this issue.
The local elections are expected to be held between August 17 and November 16 of this year, according to the deadlines set by the Law on Local Elections.
However, the lack of consultations with political parties, according to researcher at KDI, Eugen Cakolli, raises concerns about the preparation and functioning of the electoral process.
“I believe one of the reasons the president has not yet called the consultative meeting, even though there is still time to do so, is related to the political situation regarding the constitution of the Assembly. It is a public secret that political parties want, if there are to be extraordinary elections, to have them on the same day as the local elections. This would avoid the risk of low voter turnout due to fatigue or possibly the empathy that might arise from the political situation,” Cakolli stated.
Constitutional law expert Mazllum Baraliu believes that combining parliamentary and local elections could be a practical solution if the current political crisis is not resolved.
According to him, this option is a possible way out to avoid a separate electoral process that risks low citizen participation.
“The local election process is a special process that is foreseen by the Constitution and the Law on Local Elections. It has different constitutional and legal deadlines. The president should do her job, as well as the CEC. But if there is a political agreement in this political deadlock for political parties to go to elections, then local and parliamentary elections could be held at the same time,” he said.
The political deadlock in Kosovo has entered its third month since the February 9 elections, while the new Assembly has not yet been constituted.
The winning party, Vetëvendosje, has the right to propose the Speaker of the Assembly, but its candidate, Albulena Haxhiu, has not managed to gain the necessary support in any of the six votes held so far.
