LVV seeks three members in the CEC/ President Osmani seeks clarification from the Constitutional Court

2026-03-24 16:38:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

LVV seeks three members in the CEC/ President Osmani seeks clarification from

President Vjosa Osmani has requested clarification from the Constitutional Court of Kosovo regarding the appointment of members of the Central Election Commission, after Prime Minister Albin Kurti's ruling party requested three members.

Osman's cabinet told Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) on Tuesday that parliamentary parties have proposed more candidates than is provided for by the country's constitution and that it will appoint them "as soon as it receives a response" from the country's highest court.

"In the current circumstances, more proposals have been made by parliamentary groups than are provided for by the Constitution, therefore the Court should clarify this issue before proceeding further ," the response states.

While Osmani's cabinet did not want to reveal which parties have made more proposals than allowed, Kurti's Vetëvendosje Movement confirmed to REL that it has proposed three candidates.

How are CEC members appointed?

The CEC is a permanent independent body responsible for the organization and implementation of elections in Kosovo. The Commission consists of 11 members, namely the chairman and 10 other members.

According to the Constitution, six members are appointed by members of the six largest Albanian parliamentary groups, while one member is appointed by deputies who hold guaranteed seats for the Serb community, and three members by deputies who hold guaranteed seats for other non-majority communities.

If fewer groups are represented in the Assembly, the largest group or groups may appoint additional members, according to the Constitution.

While the Vetëvendosje Movement has proposed three, the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), told REL that it has proposed two candidates, while the other opposition party, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), indicated that it has proposed one candidate.

The head of the Vetëvendosje Parliamentary Group, Arbërie Nagavci, said that her party believes that it deserves three members, due to the larger number of deputies in the Assembly compared to other parties.

"We expect that, when we are asked for comments, we will send our comments to the Constitutional Court. But, we believe that it is up to the Movement to have three members in the CEC this time," said Nagavci.

But the PDK insists that it is entitled to two members and criticized the president for "violating" the Constitution by not nominating a second candidate.

PDK leadership member Betim Gjoshi said in a press conference that Osmani's failure to appoint the second PDK member to the CEC would constitute a "violation of constitutionality, democracy and elections."

Eugen Cakolli from the Democratic Institute of Kosovo said that Kurti's party cannot propose more than two candidates.

"Now, regarding the composition of the CEC, the model applied by Kosovo is strict, not proportional, which means that parliamentary groups with the right to representation propose one member each, regardless of political power or the number of deputies. Even in situations where the number of parliamentary groups is smaller, there is no transition to proportional division, because the formula remains the same and must be applied consistently," Cakolli wrote on Facebook a few days ago.

According to him, based on the current composition of the Kosovo Assembly, "the division is clear: LVV should have two members, PDK also two, while LDK and AAK should each have one member."

He also mentioned previous cases where the Constitutional Court has clarified this issue, saying that in each of the two cases for very similar situations, it has confirmed the implementation of the strict representation model in the composition of the CEC.

"In fact, the case of 2021 is particularly illustrative, when LVV had over 50% of the votes, but only had the right to propose two members ," he added.

Osmani had asked parliamentary parties on March 9 to propose candidates for CEC members. They had until March 16 to respond to her request, giving the president five days to appoint or not the nominees.

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 results of the December elections were certified on February 9. Earlier this month, the coalition of organizations monitoring the election process in Kosovo, Democracy in Action (DnV), had called on the president to expedite the appointment of new members within the legal deadline. /REL