The Central Election Commission is expected to certify the final results of the February 9 general elections today. Before this process, the prime minister and ministers who won the mandate of MP in these elections are being asked to resign. Some are considering that if they do not resign, they are committing a constitutional and legal violation, while others say that this should happen on the day they take the oath as MPs.

According to the Law on Government, more precisely point 1 of Article 26, it is underlined that "in the event that a member of the incumbent Government is elected as a deputy of the Assembly, he must resign from the position of member of the Government before the day of certification of the election results."

Through a letter addressed to political parties today, the CEC recalled the provisions of the Law on Government, specifically the article that requires the resignation of members of the current Government who have been elected deputies in the new legislature.

From the Democratic Institute of Kosovo, Vullnet Bugaqku considers that the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, and the members of the government cabinet who have won the mandate of MP should resign as of today.

He adds that with the certification of the results of the February 9 elections by the CEC, the status of the government changes and goes from one with full powers to one with limited powers.

"In principle, all members who are currently in office should resign. They should resign due to the fact that the Constitution of Kosovo, as well as the laws in force, do not allow a person to have the status of both an elected MP and a minister who currently holds the position. For this reason, it is good that before the elections are certified, the CEC certifies the list of candidates only of those who have accepted the mandate of MP, but not of those candidates who may conditionally hold any other function in the executive branch." he points out.

The Democratic Institute of Kosovo considers that the government's failure to resign could be considered a legal and constitutional violation.

"In principle yes, it can be considered that the Constitution is also violated because it prohibits it because there is an article there that talks about the incompatibility of exercising the function and prohibits both the deputy from being a member of the executive, but also of the deputy's executive. Article 6 of the law on government is also violated, but there is no legal consequence. There is no legal consequence that penalizes them", says Bugaqku.

However, the Kosovo Law Institute shares a different opinion on whether the prime minister and cabinet members should resign upon certification of the results of the February 9 elections.

Gëzim Shala from the Kosovo Law Institute says that members of the government do not need to resign until the day they take the oath as MPs.

"An institutional vacuum should not be created so that resignations from ministerial positions are sent until the day when the MPs are sworn in... The Law on Government in this specific case is the problem itself, it is a law that has not addressed this situation, for this reason the interpretation should go in the sense of a systematic and logical interpretation of the Constitution of Kosovo and the article that requires resignation should not be applied," he says.

According to Shala, the constitutional interpretation in this case legitimizes the government's failure to implement the law.

"Despite the fact that they do not correctly apply the legal norm in this case, the direct constitutional interpretation in this specific case also legitimizes the non-implementation of this provision of the law, which is in fact a weak provision, is a weak legal address and makes it inapplicable in this situation. Despite the fact that it should ease the way, it is precisely the law for the government that complicates the situation in this specific case," he said.

From the current government, the votes for deputies for the new legislature have been received by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, ministers and deputy ministers Faton Peci, Hekuran Murati, Albulena Haxhiu, Xhelal Sveçla, Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, Arben Vitia, Ejup Maqedonci, Hajrullah Çeku, Arbërie Nagavci, Liza Gashi, Rozeta Hajdari, Fikrim Damka, Nenad Rashiq, Elbert Krasniqi, Emilja Rexhepi./B.Ibishi.

/Kosovapress/