Kosovo’s Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that the Assembly has been constituted, despite this taking place after the 30-day deadline had expired. According to the court, the election of the government was also conducted in accordance with the Constitution.
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The decision establishes that the 60-day deadline for electing the president began on August 8, 2026, and ends on October 6, 2026. This gives the Assembly until that date to elect the head of state.
“The sixty (60)-day deadline for the election of the President of the Republic of Kosovo, pursuant to subparagraph 3, paragraph 1 of Article 82 [Dissolution of the Assembly] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, began on August 8, 2026, and ends on October 6, 2026,” the Constitutional Court said in its notice.
Political analysts consider the time remaining to be short, but say an agreement can be reached if the parties understand that a formula for electing the president exists and show the will to implement it. According to them, there is still room for understanding and compromise.
The political problem and the possibility of compromise
Political analyst Lirim Gashi says that 11 days is not a long time to reach a political agreement, but believes that everything depends on the will of the parties.
According to him, the issue is not a lack of a mathematical formula, but political obstacles.
“I would not try to predict the outcome of the negotiations by consulting some ‘political fortune-teller.’ In Kosovo, even forecasting the weather seems easier than guessing how a member of parliament will vote when standing in front of the ballot box,” Gashi told “Bota sot”.
He added that although 11 days is a short time in Kosovo politics, this period could be sufficient if the parties genuinely want an agreement.
Gashi emphasized that electing the president requires broad parliamentary support. A two-thirds majority is required in the first two rounds, while in the third round the vote is held between the two candidates who received the most votes, and a majority of all members of parliament is required.
“The constitutional formula exists. What is often missing is the willingness to use it without first passing every possibility through the filter of party interests. The president should not be elected as a party leader, but as a representative of the state. If this is understood during these days, an agreement remains possible. If the presidency is seen as a trophy in a party confrontation, then even 13 months would not be enough,” he said.
The analyst said that room for compromise exists, but it remains unclear whether the parties will be willing to make it.
According to Gashi, compromise would mean accepting the principle that the president is neither a reward for the entity with the most members of parliament nor a punishment for the one with fewer. The president is a state institution.
“Parties in Kosovo often agree to compromise with reality, but they find it more difficult to find common ground with one another. Now, following the Constitutional Court’s decision, the deadline is concrete: it began on August 8 and ends on October 6, 2026,” Gashi said.
He said responsibility now lies with the political leaders, who must decide whether institutional stability will be achieved through a genuine agreement.
“If the parties accept that the president is a state institution and not a prize for the largest party, then there is ground for an agreement. Otherwise, the country could face another chapter of political crisis,” he said.
According to Gashi, a candidate from outside party structures could help reduce tensions between political entities.
“The candidate should be assessed not by which party they belong to, but by what they represent. If they are linked only to a political entity, then we are dealing with a party candidate. If they represent the state, the Constitution and the public interest, then they can be considered a presidential candidate,” he emphasized.
According to him, such a figure should have public integrity, institutional credibility, experience and the ability to communicate with different political camps without becoming a representative of any of them.
“A non-party figure could help precisely because it would lower the political temperature. However, in Kosovo, even an independent person often becomes the subject of suspicion over which party they are independent from. The candidate must be greater than the agreement that brings them to the presidency. The head of state should symbolize the unity of citizens, not a political bargain,” Gashi said.
Speaking about the consequences if the president is not elected within the constitutional deadline, he recalled that Article 82 provides for the dissolution of the Assembly if the head of state is not elected within 60 days of the beginning of the procedure.
Meanwhile, Article 86 stipulates that if the candidate does not receive the necessary votes in the third round either, the Assembly is dissolved and new elections must be held within 45 days.
“Failure would not be merely another television debate in which the parties blame each other. The consequence would be institutional: the dissolution of the Assembly and the opening of the way for new parliamentary elections,” Gashi explained.
He described as paradoxical the possibility that Kosovo could vote again for a new Assembly that would once more face the same problem that the current body had failed to resolve.
“The main issue is not only whether the parties will reach an agreement on the president, but whether Kosovo’s politics will be able to distinguish compromise from surrender and principle from party interest. Democracy does not require parties to hold the same position, but it does require them, when the state is concerned, not to think only of themselves,” the analyst concluded.
The political deadlock and the parties’ responsibility
Political analyst Milazim Maraj sees the situation as the result of elections that, in his view, have not brought a solution but have produced institutional paralysis.
He accused LVV and LDK of being unable to find common ground.
“Kosovo is facing extraordinary elections that are not bringing solutions but deadlocks. This behavior, according to him, is linked to political obstinacy, the defense of earlier illegality and the interests of certain groups that may fear losing illicit benefits,” Maraj told “Bota sot”.
He claimed that some parties may be influenced by criminal forces abroad and criticized the way Albin Kurti has acted, saying that the conditions he imposed, together with the insults and disparagement, contributed to creating an atmosphere of non-cooperation.
According to Maraj, the LVV chairman’s inability to build common ground for the establishment of Kosovo’s institutions should be analyzed in depth, as it remains unclear whether this is a matter of inability or a political directive.
As for LDK, he described it as a divided party and said that such a situation was to be expected. According to him, only after internal party elections can a more democratic and useful contribution from LDK to the country be expected.
Maraj said that PDK and AAK are trying to preserve their positions and warned that the country is close to a situation of anarchy, which, in his view, would cause Kosovo serious harm.
He criticized the two parties for protests against the decision of the Special Court, claiming that they know such actions do not help those convicted, but make their cases more difficult and damage Kosovo’s image in the world.
“Instead of preparing an appeal and presenting new arguments, they are engaging in street blackmail. This may be due to a lack of knowledge or bad intentions,” Maraj said.
According to him, the failure to elect a president has been driven by political spite and is taking place at the expense of citizens who placed their trust in their representatives.
“Kosovo voted for a democratic state. The centralization of power in the name of the number of votes is totalitarianism, and everyone understands this, according to him. The deadline for compromise between the parties is short, but the parties themselves have brought the situation to this point because they did not use the time they had after the elections,” he emphasized.
Maraj warned that further extraordinary elections could once again create extraordinary conditions and reduce voter turnout, with citizens demoralized by the conduct of those elected.
“After three rounds of elections, citizens will no longer be convinced by attempts to shift the blame onto the opposition. There have been sufficient opportunities to establish the institutions, but time has been wasted on spectacles surrounding the search for a consensual president,” he said.
The analyst emphasized that the deadlock has also had consequences in the international arena, mentioning Kosovo’s lack of representation at the UN.
“Kosovo was left without a voice at the UN, and there was no one to counter Serbian lies. Vučić delivered moral lectures in the absence of Kosovo’s president. This should weigh on the conscience of those who received the citizens’ trust but abused it,” Maraj said.
He questioned whose interests were being served and said the country was very close to anarchy, while he saw no hopeful action on the horizon to overcome the crisis.
Maraj also claimed that Albin Kurti was not accepted at the UN during his stay in the United States, but was conducting an election campaign. According to him, citizens have now been forced to seek unity among politicians instead of demanding accountability from them.
“The time for understanding and compromise still exists. The question is whether there is the will and responsibility, and whether the blood and sacrifice of those who fell, in whose name appeals were made during the campaigns, are being respected,” he said.
He asked who was trampling on the sacrifice of the martyrs: the Special Court or those who continue to hold extraordinary elections and fail to reach an agreement among themselves for the good of the country.
“If extraordinary elections are held again, extraordinary circumstances will once again be created. Nevertheless, the time for compromise has not ended. It remains to be seen whether the parties have the will and responsibility to make use of it,” Maraj concluded.
