The US Embassy in Kosovo called on the county’s institutions to secure fair elections, following the decision of the Constitutional Court which ruled that the current Government is unconstitutional and country must go to snap elections.
“The United States calls on all parties and institutions in Kosovo to respect the decisions of the Constitutional Court, and to ensure that the citizens of Kosovo are able to choose their representatives through free, fair, peaceful elections,” says the statement issued by the US embassy to Prishtina, on Tuesday.
The Constitutional Court decided that the vote of MP Etem Arifi in the election of the government is unconstitutional.
Despite having been sentenced to prison with a final verdict, Arifi voted the government led by Avdullah Hoti on June 3. His vote was decisive in the forming of the current government, who received only 61 votes in the 120-seat parliament, the minimum number of votes required.
The decision of the Constitutional Court published on Monday evening, is based on the request of the opposition Vetevendosje, which claimed that the government of Avdullah Hoti is unconstitutional due to Arifi’s vote.
Etem Arifi, an MP with the Ashkali Party for Integration, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in April 2018 for appropriating €26,000 through an NGO.
He was due to start his sentence on 9 March 2020, but the court postponed it twice by four months in total due to his poor health. A third similar request was rejected in early July.
In August, a Pristina court issued an arrest warrant against Arifi, but he gave himself up on September 29.
