Kosovo’s Constitutional Court to Urgently Decide on Suspending Vote on New Government
The Constitutional Court of has urgently started to review the request by Kosovo’s election winner Vetevendosje party (LVV) to suspend the expected Saturday parliamentary vote on a new government, and refute the President’s decree to mandate a candidate for prime minister.
On Friday, the Court demanded the president, government, parliament and ombudsman to submit their comments on the suspension of the vote before Friday noon. A Court ruling on this point is expected before the vote takes place.
“The Constitutional Court is dedicated prioritize and urgently review this case, in compliance with its constitutional responsibilities and function,” a statement by the Court read.
A court decision before the Saturday vote could avoid the potentially dangerous scenario of having two governments in place.
The Court gave the same institutions one week time, until May 8, to present comments on the President’s decree.
On Thursday, President Thaçi and the second largest party Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) appeared to have coordinated their moves to attempt a vote on a LDK-led government during the weekend.
Just by the end of the workday, at 4:00 p.m., the President made public his decision to offer the mandate to form a new government to LDK’s Avdullah Hoti. At the same time, LDK requested the parliament to hold an extraordinary session to vote on the new government on Saturday, 1:00 p.m. The next day, Friday, May 1, is a national holiday, and that Constitutional Court would normally be closed.
Vetevendosje immediately took the matter to the Constitutional Court. Its 30 MPs submitted a 32-page-long request to the Court to suspend the vote and overturn the President’s decision to mandate Hoti as candidate for prime minister. They maintain that once the coalition government they led as election winner party was voted down, the country must go to new elections.
The party has also announced that they will ask the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission for an opinion on President Thaçi’s actions to sidestep the election winner and push for a new government by smaller parties.
With the Friday 12:00 p.m. deadline passed, it’s not clear whether any of the interested parties submitted any comments to the Court.
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