Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has responded to the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the constitutive session, after earlier on Thursday he did not comment, citing that he is awaiting the publication of the full verdict.
He said that no one from the Serbian community is taking the vacant vice-presidential seat, while emphasizing that Kosovo is being harmed by the lack of a constitution.
"Regarding the Constitutional Court's verdict, we need to see it in its entirety to give our assessment, but what I can say now is that I consider it a waste of time and a harm that the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo is not functioning. The Assembly of the Republic has elected the President Dimal Basha, has elected the four Vice-Presidents Albulena Haxhiu, Vlora Çitaku, Kujtim Shala and Emilja Rexhepi, no one is filling the vacant chair for the Vice-President from the ranks of the Serbian community. The work of the Assembly had to continue because the state of Kosovo has no time to waste," Kurti said after the inauguration of a kindergarten in Shtime.
Meanwhile, regarding the issue of voting in batches for deputy community leaders, Kurti added that the completed vote cannot be reversed.
"Emilja Rexhepi is the deputy speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, the vote for Emilja Rexhepi cannot be canceled, that's why we are left with the last deputy speaker from the Serbian community, but don't forget, not only those from the Serbian List are Serbs, Nenad Rašić is also Serbian. On the one hand, the representative of the Serbian List received only 10 votes, while Nenad Rašić received 56, if only 5 votes were given to these 52 who are from the opposition, today we would not be asking these questions and these answers."
Kurti does not comment on the Constitutional Court's decision: We await the full verdict
Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti responded curtly, "we are waiting for the verdict," when asked about the Constitutional Court's decision that the constitutive session of the Assembly has not concluded and that it must conclude within 12 days.
On September 30, the Constitutional Court published the decision on the constitutive session following the complaint it had received from the Serb List, specifically regarding the separate voting of candidates for deputy presidents of the Assembly from among minorities.
At the end of August, Parliament Speaker Dimal Basha declared the ninth legislature constituted, even though the vote for a deputy speaker from the Serbian community failed.
The court said that the constitutive session did not end that day and gave as justification the non-election of the Serbian vice president.
In its decision, the Court did not consider the division of voting for vice-presidents by community to be unconstitutional at any point.
In her decision, the Constitutional Court ordered all deputies, during the procedure for electing the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly from among the deputies of the Serbian community, to exercise their function in the best interest of Kosovo and in accordance with the Constitution.
The court has not yet published the full verdict.