Haxhiu is reviewing new materials for the 11th member of the CEC

New materials have been sent to the Presidency and are being reviewed before the acting president, Albulena Haxhiu, decides whether the 11th member of the CEC should belong to Vetëvendosje or PDK. And, the former chairwoman of the CEC, Valdete Daka, raises the need for the appointment of this member, as she says that decision-making can be paralyzed in cases where the result is 5 to 5.

Acting President Albulena Haxhiu is still reviewing the materials to decide who the last member of the CEC belongs to, Vetëvendosje or the Democratic Party.

In a response to KOHA, the Presidency said that this issue was inherited, since the 11th member with whom the CEC would be completed was not appointed within the deadline by former President Vjosa Osmani.

It is noted that, after Haxhiu took office, other documents related to the issue were filed with the Presidency, which they said they are reviewing with maximum care.

"After the Acting President took office, subsequent letters regarding this issue were also received by the Office of the President. They have been administered and are being reviewed as part of the same institutional process. However, due to this procedural and legal history, any further action requires careful assessment. In the meantime, the CEC continues to be functional. Its current composition does not jeopardize the administration of the electoral process, the certification of political entities, the conduct of elections or the certification of the result," the Office of the President's response states.

Although the Presidency has assessed that the absence of one member does not hinder the organization of the electoral process that will be held in a month, former CEC chairwoman Valdete Daka has said that the incomplete composition could have consequences.

According to her, the functioning of the institution could be compromised if in certain cases, with the current composition of 10 members, the result is equal.

According to her, Haxhiu should appoint the PDK's nominee as a member of the CEC.

"The practice so far has been that as many parliamentary groups as there were, they have taken it from one member. If there were not 6 parliamentary groups, the appointment has started from the beginning. This means that now there are 4 Albanian parliamentary groups, they take it from one member and then they take it according to the size and number of seats, which means VV gets the second, PDK the second," said Daka.

PDK insists that this party deserves the second member on the CEC, and Vetëvendosje wants to have the third.

Haxhiu himself has said on several occasions that once he decides on the 11th member, he expects the subject who does not gain this right to send the case to the Constitutional Court.

Former President Vjosa Osmani, at the end of her mandate, also addressed the Constitutional Court regarding the dilemma of who should occupy the 11th seat in the CEC. But both in 2021 and now, the Constitutional Court declared her request inadmissible for consideration. Osmani had asked the Constitutional Court to assess the “conflict between constitutional competences under Article 113 (3) (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo”, namely between the applicant and “parliamentary groups as bodies of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo” in connection with the appointment of members of the Central Election Commission.

She also requested the Constitutional Court to impose a temporary measure in the implementation of legal deadlines regarding the beginning of the mandate of a CEC member, who had not been appointed due to constitutional uncertainties.

The Constitutional Court has declared Osman's request inadmissible. It has also rejected the request for an interim measure. According to the court's reasoning, the power to appoint is assigned to the president by law and not by the Constitution, therefore it cannot provide an assessment on this.

In 2021, when he found himself at the same crossroads, after the Court's response, Osmani decided to nominate the PDK candidate.

The Constitution stipulates that the six members of the CEC are appointed by the six largest parliamentary groups, which do not hold reserved seats. And, if there are fewer parliamentary groups in the Assembly, the Constitution provides that the largest groups may appoint additional members.

According to the Law on General Elections, the appointment of CEC members must be made no later than 60 days after the certification of the results.

The deadline for the current case was April 11th.