The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) candidate for Assembly President, Arsim Bajrami, did not get enough votes in today’s constitutive session. 44 MPs voted in favor of Bajrami, 61 voted against and 11 MPs abstained from voting. Assembly chairperson Flora Brovina said she needs to interrupt the session and said she would inform MPs in writing about the date of the next assembly session.

Publicist Halil Matoshi in his weekly column for the paper writes that the Constitutional Court has left no legal mechanism available for the parliamentary majority to be able to nominate and elect its candidate to the post of Assembly speaker. Being that, as Matoshi says, the president of Kosovo and the Constitutional Court openly support the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the opposition bloc has no other solution but to resist with legal means “capturing of the state”.

Andrea Capussela who worked for the former International Civilian Office in Kosovo observes in an opinion piece for the paper that although he has not too much respect for the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Alliance for Future of Kosovo (AAK) or Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA), he does believe that Kosovo could use a change and if Vetevendosje joins in, institutions would become cleaner. Capussela’s message therefore to LDK, AAK and NISMA is to remove the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) from power and take it themselves.

The work of the Constitutional Court is now blocked after the resignation of U.S. judge Robert Carolan. Sources told Express that the Court no longer has the required quorum to address political cases. “The Court currently has seven judges, but Mr. Kadri Kryeziu cannot participate in the addressing of political cases because he was dismissed from such cases after he was seen attending a PDK rally in the latest national elections,” a source told the news website.

In a statement to the media, Vetevendosje stressed that in an effort to create parallel institutional mechanisms, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) undertook its recent step in preventing creation of new institutions. “Along with the Serb List it postponed for a week the constitutive session of the Republic of Kosovo Assembly”.

Leader of Democratic Kosovo Turk Party (KDTP), Mahir Jagcilar, said the 6+ parliamentary groups will vote tomorrow for the candidate of the Kosovo Democratic Party (PDK), Arsim Bajrami.

“We will support PDK’s candidate for Assembly Speaker. Afterwards, we will see how things develop”, said Jagcilar.

Jagcilar also said that the Serb List has requested postponement of tomorrow’s session. “They are expected to make a written request. It will then be decided whether their justification is reasonable”, he added.

The chair of tomorrow’s constitutive session of the Kosovo Assembly, Flora Brovina, has called for a meeting with representatives of political parties today at 15.30. Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) officials said there is still no decision on the possible postponement of the constitutive session.

At the same time, it is reported that PDK has begun to talk about postponing tomorrow’s session under the justification that this was requested by minority communities’ representatives who are not informed as to what will happen in the session.

Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) parliamentary group is holding a meeting with non-Serb communities represented in the Kosovo Assembly. PDK leader Hashim Thaci did not make any statements after the meeting but the 6+ parliamentary group confirmed that it will support the PDK candidate for Assembly speaker during tomorrow’s session. The announcement was made by the head of the group, Mahir Jagcilar.

Editor Lavdim Hamidi argues in his opinion piece that Arsim Bajrami, candidate of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) for the post of Assembly President, has always been used as a scapegoat by his party. According to Hamidi, if the PDK had the required number of votes to elect the Assembly President, it would not have proposed Bajrami for the post.

Xhavit Haliti, member of the leadership of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), said for Radio Kosova that the agreement between Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), and Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA) and Vetevendosje, is a free decision of the leaders of these political parties. However, according to him, the problem stands on the constitutional interpretation of this after election coalition.