03 Nov 14
Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga has been unable to resolve the political dispute which has meant that no government has been formed in the five months since parliamentary elections.
Pristina
Jahjaga is no closer to finding a solution after a series of talks with political parties failed to produce any concrete results, as political leaders remain entrenched in the positions they adopted immediately after the June 8 parliamentary elections.
The discussions were focused on the first step towards establishing a new administration – the election of a speaker for the Kosovo Assembly – but the two opposing political camps continue to insist on their right to nominate their own candidate for the post.
“Based on what we have seen so far, the president has failed in the process. Her efforts were a waste of time and her involvement only contributed to the deepening of the crisis,” said Albert Krasniqi, an analyst from the Pristina-based KIPRED think-tank.
Krasniqi said however that political leaders should take the blame for the fact that Kosovo still has no government.
“The responsibility to constitute the assembly does not rest in the hands of the president but more on the political parties, which should be held responsible for the current situation,” he said.
The deadlock began when MPs were unable to elect a parliamentary speaker, and so a new government could not be formed.
The biggest parliamentary group, gathered round the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK – the only party with the right to nominate the speaker – does not have enough seats in the assembly to do so.
Courts in July threw out the election of an opposition speaker, Isa Mustafa, ruling that the PDK had the sole right to nominate a candidate. However, the court did not specify how the assembly should proceed if the biggest parliamentary group failed to elect the speaker.
While new elections are seen as an option to solve the crisis, Krasniqi argued that “the president cannot unilaterally terminate the mandate of the elected deputies”.
“The assembly can be dissolved by two-thirds of the deputies, and then the president can legally announce elections,” he explained.
The post-election coalition made up of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), the Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA) and the Self-Determination Movement (Vetevendosje) has announced new moves to solve the crisis.
LDK leader Isa Mustafa has hinted for the first time that he is prepared to give up on the assembly speaker in exchange for enabling the coalition to establish a government.
On the other hand, the Self-Determination Movement has announced protest rallies to put pressure on Hashim Thaci’s PDK to give way and allow the parties that have the majority in the assembly to elect the speaker and form the government.
The coalition partners however have not publicly supported the idea.
As well as preventing the passing of important legislation, the deadlock has also scuppered what would have been a historic first trip by the Kosovo president to Serbia.
Jahjaga last week turned down an invitation to attend a major conference in Belgrade, citing the political crisis at home.
“The president has decided not to participate in the conference because of the situation in the country and the inability to create new institutions,” said her spokesperson, Arber Vllahiu, according to Reuters.
