A day after failing to form a new government, the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, has traveled for an official visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Such a move is being considered unreasonable by civil society, as they argue that the head of state should have remained in Kosovo to invite political parties for consultations. They emphasize that President Osmani should have started discussions as early as today, even through written correspondence with the leaders of parliamentary parties, to determine whether a new parliamentary majority could be secured or an agreement reached on the date of new early elections.

On the other hand, the Office of the Presidency told KosovaPress that President Osmani will invite political parties for consultations within the constitutional deadline. According to the Constitution, Osmani has a ten-day deadline, until November 5, to call political parties for consultations.

However, according to the researcher at the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI), Eugen Cakolli, President Osmani should not wait for the maximum deadline but should start consultations with political parties as soon as possible to see how the constitutional procedures will proceed.

“Knowing that yesterday the session was expected to be held, it is somewhat unreasonable how the country’s president, in such a politically and constitutionally sensitive situation, is not in the country. Every lost moment is a lost opportunity to find a way out of this situation, or in the other scenario, to avoid wasting time with these procedures... What matters is that November 5 is the last date when the president must move the current process forward. In this regard, I believe that the sooner the discussion with the parties takes place, the better for the country, because we will then have clarity on the direction in which the constitutional procedures will go,” Cakolli stated.

Meanwhile, Naim Jakaj from the Kosovo Institute of Justice (IKD) told KosovaPress that President Osmani can communicate through written correspondence with the leaders of political parties and that it is not necessary to wait for physical meetings.

“The president can communicate through letters with the leaders of political parties. There is no need to wait for her to return and hold in-person consultations with the parties. Even in previous practices, it happened that the former president in 2019 communicated through letters and phone calls with political parties. So, it doesn’t necessarily mean that consultations must be held through physical meetings to gather information on whether parties are ready to form another government, either from other parties or again by LVV,” Jakaj added.

The nominee for prime minister, Albin Kurti, presented his cabinet before the Assembly on October 26; however, he failed to form a new government, receiving only 56 votes out of the 61 required.

According to KDI researcher Eugen Cakolli, President Osmani should assess whether there is readiness from anyone in the Assembly to take the mandate and attempt to form a government for the second time.

He added that the president could again give the mandate to LVV, as the first party from the February 9 elections, or assign it to another party that meets the criterion of demonstrating majority support through MPs’ signatures.

According to him, the Constitutional Court has clarified in several cases that if none of the parties wishes to take the mandate to form the government, the president can determine that there is no necessary parliamentary majority and dissolve the Assembly, setting the date for early elections.

As Cakolli noted, the new elections should be held within a forty-day period. Based on that timeframe, he said that the most likely scenario is that early elections will be held between December 7 and 14 of this year.

“The first question is whether any of the parties is willing to take the mandate and try for a second time to form the government. In this regard, it should be mentioned that there are two options: first, that the president, based on prevailing criteria within her discretion, gives the mandate again to the first party to attempt to form the government, or that she assigns it to any other party that meets the prevailing criterion she sets, which is usually demonstrated through signatures from MPs. However, the Constitutional Court has clarified in several instances that if none of the parties wishes to take the mandate to form the government, then it becomes unnecessary to consume such a procedure. I believe that, on this basis, the president, if no political party shows willingness or real chances to form a government, can determine the absence of the necessary parliamentary majority, dissolve the Assembly, and set a new election date, which must be held within forty days. Based on this constitutional timeframe, the highest chances are that elections will take place between December 7 and 14 of this year,” he emphasized.

After Kurti’s failure to form the new government, the leaders of PDK, LDK, and AAK underlined the need for the country to head toward new early elections. They stated that they will not accept the mandate if it is offered by President Vjosa Osmani.

Kosovo has not yet formed a new government more than eight months after the parliamentary elections held on February 9.