Cakolli: The end of September could be the constitutional deadline for electing the president

Eugen Cakolli from the Kosovo Democratic Institute said that after the conclusion of the appeal procedures and the certification of the election results, the third week of July is the optimal deadline for calling the constitutive session of the Kosovo Assembly.

However, Cakolli has assessed that the biggest challenge is not expected to be the formation of the Government, but the election of the country's new President. According to him, the end of September could be the constitutional deadline for the election of the president.

"If the Assembly is to be constituted in the second half of July, then it follows that the middle or end of September will be the last constitutional deadline within which the new President of the country must be elected. In this regard, this is the most categorical deadline, while in the case of the election of the Government there are two parallel deadlines. So, on the one hand there is the 60-day deadline from the day of the mandate, and on the other hand there is the total deadline of 40 days, which includes 15 days for the first candidate (who is nominated by the acting President, or depending on which procedure will be followed first), and in case of eventual failure, there is the 10-day deadline for the election of the second candidate. And again 15 days for the other candidate, which makes a total of 40 days. Which means that, on the issue of the Government, the decision-making can be at the latest sometime from the beginning of September, if not even earlier than that. But, being "I do not expect the issue of the Government to be a problem due to the configuration of the numbers, I believe that the most sensitive and potentially most problematic issue will be the election of the President, with the deadline that I believe will end by mid- or eventually the end of September, depending on the procedures that will be followed for the constitution of the Assembly," Cakolli declared.

According to him, the vote counting process was regular and no irregularities were identified that would compromise the integrity of the election results, therefore he assessed that mid-July or the third week could be the optimal deadline during which we could call the constitutive session of the Assembly of Kosovo.

"Since the Constitutional Court has determined that the 30-day deadline for the constitution of the Assembly is a definitive and absolute deadline, in terms of the obligation that the deputies have to conclude it as a procedure, with deadlines that usually take one to two weeks for the preparation of the session and other elements, I believe that the third week of July, or mid-July, could be an optimal deadline during which we can have the convocation of the constitutive session. And that the numbers, as such, already dictate a relatively calm tempo regarding the constitution of the Assembly. Because the Vetëvendosje Movement as the party that emerged first in the elections and its partners from the communities, I do not believe that they will have any problems regarding the constitution of the Assembly," Cakolli declared to Ekonomia Online.

Speaking about election complaints, Cakolli said that candidates have the legal right to use all legal remedies, but emphasized that the practice so far of the Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) and the Supreme Court has set clear standards for how to handle them.

"Normally, candidates who were part of the race had the right and have the legal right to file a complaint, even for a limited number of votes. But what is important is that a kind of precedent has already been created by the ECAP, even in previous election cycles, regarding the level of examination that must be done regarding possible irregularities. And in this regard, I believe that the decisions of the ECAP and the Supreme Court on previous complaints (i.e. not the ones we had recently) will serve as a basis for decision-making even in cases that could potentially be filed with the Supreme Court," Cakolli said.

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According to Cakolli, the final decision-making of the responsible institutions can be made very quickly, paving the way for the certification of the results.

The latest decision of the Constitutional Court clearly states that the President of Kosovo is elected with two-thirds of the votes and a quorum of two-thirds in the first two rounds of voting, or with 61 votes in the third round.

The 35-day deadline given by the Constitutional Court expired at midnight on April 28, and thus, according to that decision, the Assembly is automatically dissolved, without the need for a presidential decree.