TIRANA, May 31 /ATA/- Kosovo’s parliamentarians failed for the 24th consecutive time on Saturday to form the parliamentary assembly following the February elections.
These consecutive setbacks persist despite mounting pressure from Kosovo’s civil society and the international community to promptly establish new institutions.
For the sixteenth straight session, lawmakers once again failed to approve the establishment of a committee tasked with overseeing the secret ballot for electing the new parliament speaker.
On May 1, session chair Avni Dehari proposed a secret ballot vote after Albulena Haxhiu, the candidate from the winning party Vetëvendosje, failed to obtain the necessary 61 votes in multiple open ballots to be elected as parliamentary speaker.
The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, backed by then opposition deputies from the previous mandate, has referred the matter of the secret ballot vote to the Constitutional Court for interpretation.
They argue that Vetëvendosje’s move to elect the new parliament speaker via secret ballot violates the constitution. The party has called on the Constitutional Court to impose a temporary suspension of parliamentary sessions pending a prioritized review and decision on the matter.
During the May 31 followup constitutive session, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Democratic League of Kosovo, AAK, and the Serbian List again declined to nominate a candidate for the committee’s formation, prompting the session’s suspension.
The session is scheduled to resume in 48 hours, specifically on Monday.
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