Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaçi is expected to decide today on whether he will declare new elections or mandate another PM candidate to form a new government, according to local media.
Today, Thaçi concluded two-day consultations with all parliamentary parties on the next steps he should take after the parliament ousted the Kurti government last week.
Kurti’s Vetëvendosje party (LVV) claims that Thaçi’s consultations with parties before he implements the Constitution are not based in it or any other laws.
Thaçi has stated that the Constitution offers him two choices, one of which he has considered an “obligation”:
“The options are two: going to elections or forming a new government, an option that would avoid elections under the circumstances of the pandemic, which is an obligation for me as president. The first chance [to form a new government] would go to the largest party, then we’ll see,” Thaçi stated.
LVV, who leads the caretaker government in coalition with LDK, claims that according to the Constitution and established precedents, when a government is voted down in Parliament, the President must declare new elections. Therefore the President should wait for the pandemic to stop, and declare new elections. Until then, the caretaker government cannot be replaced.
Virtually all other parliamentary parties claim that a new government should form as soon as possible, according to the Constitution.
If he decides that this is the case, the President has to ask the largest party, Kurti’s LVV, to submit to him the name of a PM candidate. However, the Constitution does not set deadline for the party to submit the name.
