Session without opposition for the election of the president in Kosovo

2026-04-28 07:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The extraordinary session to elect a president in Kosovo without the presence of the opposition has prompted accusations of constitutional violations and a threat to the democratic order. Political and civil reactions have increased.

The Kosovo Assembly held an extraordinary session late on Monday (April 27) to elect the president of Kosovo, without the presence of opposition parties that boycotted the session. The opposition described the ruling party's attempt without the presence of 80 MPs in the hall as an overthrow of the constitutional order.

The ruling Vetevendosje party proposed two new candidates for the post of president, Feride Rushiti from civil society and Hatixhe Hoxha, a former member of parliament. The first candidate, Feride Rushiti, received 63 votes, out of 64 members of parliament present in the hall.

Assembly Speaker Albulena Haxhiu, although she did not mention the fact that there were not 80 deputies in the hall, said that the session to elect the president will continue on Tuesday morning.

Constitutional framework for the election of the president

The latest decision of the Constitutional Court clearly states that the President of Kosovo is elected with two-thirds of the votes in the first two rounds of voting, or with 61 votes in the third round. While the session for the election of the president was held only with deputies from Vetëvendosje and non-Serb minorities, there were numerous reactions from deputies from opposition parties, calling it a "constitutional coup", as they say, holding the session for the president without the presence of two-thirds of the 120 deputies of the Kosovo parliament.

Opposition: "Violation of the constitution"

PDK Chairman Bedri Hamza reacted sharply to the start of the presidential election process, calling for this process to be stopped. "What happened tonight is a violation of the constitution. So the procedure for electing the president began unconstitutionally. This practice must be stopped in order to preserve political and institutional stability. The danger of this situation is Vetëvendosje and Mr. Kurti, and I do not want the country to sink into anarchy," said Bedri Hamza.

Even the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku, in his first reaction said that the Vetëvendosje movement, with the session for the president without the presence of 80 deputies in the hall, "initiated the overthrow of the constitutional and democratic order of Kosovo. The ruling party has the highest responsibility for sabotaging the constitution and they will bear this responsibility for attempting and initiating the overthrow of the constitutional order."

Civil society reaction

The network of non-governmental organizations from the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI), which constantly monitors the work of the assembly, strongly condemned, as it says, "the attempt to move forward with the election of the President without meeting the required constitutional quorum", describing such an action as "directly violating the foundations of the constitutional order and the functioning of parliamentary democracy in the country".

"The decisions and practice of the Constitutional Court have clearly clarified the standard that must be followed, according to which it is determined that the procedure for electing the President requires the participation of at least two-thirds of all deputies in the first and second rounds of voting, while only after this condition is met does the procedure continue in the third round," the KDI response states.

Therefore, civil society organizations call on "MPs to respect constitutional standards and avoid actions that deepen the institutional crisis."/ DW