Tragicomedy alla Kosovar

Instead of dealing with our well-being with a brighter perspective, we deal with the soap opera “We Choose the President.” According to the script, there is always someone lying, someone cheating, someone taking revenge, someone being a victim, someone coming out of the corner… and in the end: everybody happy… until the continuation of the second series

And what was expected happened: the Constitutional Court declared the interim measure and gave itself three weeks to decide on the cases opened by Haxhiu on behalf of the Assembly and Kurti on behalf of the Government, regarding the (un)consummated procedure for electing the head of state and Osman's contested decree to dissolve the Assembly.

We don't have an Assembly until March 31st, and we have a war on social media and in the media about who is the biggest victim of this whole process. Osmani chose a medium in Albania to cry out about her troubles - conveying the message that Kurti has betrayed her.

Kurti, wisely, did not deal with Osmani's statements - this was done by the lower party officials, while at the end of the week he invited the opposition parties to meet to discuss the issue of the head of state so as to avoid general elections, which the opposition expects will have altered results that could take away the absolute majority from VV.

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Naturally and wisely, the opposition responded positively, but with a condition: the meeting or meetings should not be held before the Constitutional Court's decision regarding both events is known - whether the 30-day deadline is relative and has not been exhausted, because the procedure has been initiated but not consumed, and whether Osman's decree to dissolve the Assembly is constitutional.

also Arberi April 2, 2026 The opposition does not expect an agreement with Kurti for the presidency

And, they are right. Because it will depend on the Constitutional Court whether everything returns to zero; whether the continuation of the session and the efforts for elections within the 60-day deadline will be requested, or whether Kosovo will go to elections. Or maybe we will have some new sui generis interpretation that will surprise us. Again.

In the hypothetical situation that everything returns to zero, and without prejudging that the Constitutional Court will force the deputies to participate in the session and vote for, against or abstain, it will be difficult for the VV's favorite candidate to pass, despite the fact that the ruling party nominally has the votes for the third round. The opposition will benefit from the elections, considering the developments of recent days.

In the second hypothetical situation, if the Constitutional Court decides that the session should continue where it left off, there will be no possibility, not even procedural, to change the names of the proposed candidates (unless they withdraw – and I do not know if this option is provided for by any legal-constitutional act). And if the Constitutional Court insists that the deputies must be in the hall, then there do not seem to be many options other than voting on the candidates already presented by the VV.

The third hypothetical situation is that Osmani's decree is declared constitutional and Kosovo goes to elections within 45 days or maybe even 60 days, depending on what interpretation will be given to the provision containing the deadline for electing the head of state. So mid-April or even early May are options, regardless of the consultative meeting that Osmani held on the day he signed the decree.

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It has already been a full year since the political crisis began, culminating in two elections within a calendar year and which could be followed by another election, which objectively should not have happened. Ultimately, it is not in the interest of Kosovo that at a time when inflation is eating away at our heads and when little is functioning properly, we should once again go out to vote for the same offer that was offered to us in the past two elections. Of course, with the small and possible change: the return of Vjosa Osmani to the LDK and with her a certain number of people who joined her in the Guxo List, from which they are now leaving in a coordinated manner, the eventual arrival of Osmani to the LDK will be a boost for this party, because, as we have already said, Osmani enjoys popularity and many considered her repeated non-candidate status as a betrayal of VV towards it. And this automatically means that a portion of voters will return to this party in the eventual elections that could be held. And depending on its eventual performance, I believe that Lumir Abdixhiku's position as the leader in this party could be jeopardized.

I suspect that Abdixhiku is consciously taking this risky gamble for himself, with the aim of strengthening his party's position at the national level. If there are elections now, the chances are that this reunion will happen immediately after Osman's mandate expires, in the first week of April.

A quick reunion that could happen even if there are no elections now, but there is strategy building for the next elections, whenever they happen. A reunion that will cause internal problems in the LDK leadership structures, because it is already known that a number of figures within the LDK do not like Osmani and that even when she was elected leader, they refused to vote for her.

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And that the issue of the president has already crossed the line of political bargaining for this position, is more than evident, and that this issue should have been resolved differently, namely through direct elections by the citizens, a long time ago. This, without affecting the political system of the state - so Kosovo would remain a parliamentary republic, while the president of state would retain the current prerogatives defined by the Constitution without much room for discretionary actions as enjoyed, for example, by the president of state in Croatia.

We will hardly ever truly understand why the political parties and Osmani himself have not seen fit to address this topic since 2011. We can only assume that they have preserved the opportunity for what has always served: bargaining.

also Arberi 26 Tues 2026 VV MP says the session for the president should be called early next week

Osman's panicked action, when he learned that he would not be a candidate for re-election, of activating the amendments, one day before the expiration of what is known as the 30-day period, without any warning, without even the slightest attempt to consult the proposals with the parliamentary parties, was a chronicle of a predicted failure. Along with the vainly organized session.

But the proposed text of the amendments, which was made public yesterday, revealed Amendment IV, which left room for many interpretations, if it were to pass as it was worded:

"Notwithstanding other provisions of this Constitution:

(1) The mandate of the President of the Republic of Kosovo, elected by the Assembly, in accordance with the previous provisions of the Constitution, shall continue until the new President is elected and takes the oath.

(2) Presidents who served before the entry into force of these amendments shall be eligible to be elected and re-elected once as President of the Republic of Kosovo.

Logic tells me that with this amendment, Osmani was aiming for a trick to extend his mandate, perhaps for another five years, as well as to enable himself to be re-elected if elections were held by popular vote. So, in fact, three terms, eventually. This is because in amendment 3 he wrote that elections are announced 6 months before the regular term of the president expires.

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This shows that the work of amendments requires much greater seriousness. They need to be examined extensively, elaborated with great precision, and with as little potential damage in the future as possible due to truncated wording as is the text of this amendment.

That the head of state should be elected, sooner rather than later, by popular vote, I do not believe there is any room for any dilemma. The crisis, into which the egos of our politicians have plunged us out of mutual resentment, proves this better than anything else.

Instead of dealing with our well-being with a brighter perspective, we deal with the soap opera “We Choose the President.” According to the script, there is always someone lying, someone cheating, someone taking revenge, someone being a victim, someone getting out of a corner… and in the end: everybody happy…

...until the continuation of the second series.

also Arberi 26 Tues 2026 Osmani does not comment on the Constitutional Court's ruling

Tragicomedy alla Kosovar!

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