Hadziu asks Constitutional Court who calls Kosovo elections

Aljbuljena Hadziu, the acting president of Kosovo, has asked the Constitutional Court to determine who exercises presidential powers once her six months run out and the Assembly has not elected a new president. The request was filed on October 5, and her cabinet confirmed it on October 6 in a written reply to Radio Free Europe. The constitutional deadline to elect a president expires tonight at midnight.

What exactly did Hadziu ask the court?

The acting president’s cabinet summed up the request in a single sentence:

“We have asked for a determination of how and by whom the necessary presidential powers are exercised after the six-month period has ended, when a new president has not yet been elected.”

In a reply carried by RTS, the cabinet also set out its constitutional position: “Our position is that a constitutional solution must be provided that allows elections to be called and held within the set deadlines.”

The sources disagree on the dates. Radio Free Europe, via Insajder and Telegraf, reports that Hadziu has been acting president since May 4, when Vjosa Osmani’s term expired. RTS writes that her six months ended on October 4. Neither source explains the gap, so what remains is the fact all of them confirm: the request has been filed, and the acting president’s mandate is running out or has already run out.

Who calls elections if there is no president?

That is exactly the question the request raises. The president calls elections, and Article 90 of the Kosovo Constitution says an acting president cannot serve longer than six months. Where those two provisions meet, there is a gap that RTS described as a dilemma: who will call elections if no president is elected by midnight.

The 60-day deadline for electing a president was set by the Constitutional Court itself. If no president is elected, the Assembly is dissolved and elections must be held within 45 days. According to RTS, these would be the fourth elections in the past two years.

Why no president has been elected

Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lumir Abdidziku, agreed on Bekim Sejdiu as their candidate. A group of LDK deputies opposed the choice, and Sejdiu withdrew his candidacy.

The leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Bedri Hamza, wants amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers passed in two readings first, and only then a conversation about a candidate. The amendments passed the first reading on October 5, but the second reading was not held. Kurti and Hamza ended their meeting that evening without a solution. The PDK says Kurti made the second reading conditional on a prior vote for president, the same thread we followed in our piece on the failure of their talks.

PDK deputy Arian Tahiri said around 10 p.m. that only deputies of the PDK and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo were left in the chamber, while deputies of Self-Determination and the LDK were gone. Ramus Haradinaj called on Kurti and his deputies to return, saying it was “not the time to flee the Assembly”.

The toll of the unrest outside the Assembly and the government

On October 5, demonstrators blocked the entrances and exits of the Assembly and for hours kept deputies from leaving. Police began using tear gas around 6:50 p.m., and water cannons and armored vehicles were brought in later. Demonstrators threw stones and fireworks and set containers on fire.

The figures differ from source to source:

• Kosovo Police: six officers injured, 11 demonstrators sought help, three people taken to a police station
• RTS: nearly 20 injured, including six officers and 12 demonstrators
• Emergency Center director Naser Silja: 12 people sought help, 11 demonstrators and one officer, eight examined for tear gas exposure, three treated for cuts

Police operational commander Fatmir Baljaj replied to PDK deputies, who had demanded that the cordon be pulled back over disproportionate force, that officers had been attacked and that anyone found to have used disproportionate force would be held accountable.

A new call to gather in Pristina

The organization of KLA war veterans called for a new gathering on the morning of October 6: “Tomorrow, morning should find all of us on the square in Pristina.” Its president, Hisni Gucati, said he was himself hurt by tear gas and that the protest will continue. “Since Albin wants to go all the way, then we will go all the way too,” Gucati said, according to Koha, adding that participants would not come empty-handed but with stones and bricks.

If no president is elected by midnight, the Assembly is dissolved, and under the Constitutional Court’s decision new parliamentary elections must be held within 45 days.