Analysis: Why is Haxhiu a bone of contention for the constitution of the Parliament?

Her name was put to the vote three times, but Albulena Haxhiu from the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) did not receive the 61 votes needed to become the Speaker of the Parliament of Kosovo on either occasion.

Haxhiu is considered by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) as a divisive figure, while the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) refuses to vote for any name proposed by the winner of the parliamentary elections, the LVV.

Is Haxhiu an obstacle or a pretext for not constituting the Kosovo Assembly?

Besar Gërgi from the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GSLP) sees both of these as possible motives.

"On the one hand, they [political parties] seem to be somewhat comfortable with the situation, and they don't care about the constitution of the ninth legislature. But, on the other hand, it is seen that they also have a dislike for the specific name, that of Mrs. Haxhiu," Gërgi tells Radio Free Europe.

Haxhiu did not manage to get more than 57 votes from the deputies in the Assembly. The votes of the deputies of the parties that were in the opposition in the previous legislature are also necessary.

PDK and AAK are demanding that LVV propose another name, one that represents a unifying figure, in order to win the votes of their MPs.

LVV refuses to change its proposal, arguing that Haxhiu is the most voted MP in the Assembly, with 125 thousand votes.

"The political weight, the legitimacy of Ms. Albulena Haxhiu to be Speaker of the Parliament is undisputed," LVV MP Mimoza Kusari Lila told reporters after the adjournment of the constitutive session of the Parliament on Wednesday.

PDK leader Memli Krasniqi said on Monday that his party will never vote for Haxhiu as Speaker of the Parliament, because "she is a symbol of the failure of the Government in the past four-year mandate."

"His entire mandate has been accompanied by various scandals, from the disappearance of Astrit Dehari's samples to the reduction of the budget for the protection of liberators in The Hague," Krasniqi declared.

LVV activist Dehari was found dead in a prison cell in Prizren in November 2016.

In December 2022, Haxhiu, who was Minister of Justice, confirmed that Dehar's samples had disappeared from the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

In 2023, the budget allocated by the Government of Kosovo for the defense of defendants from the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague was over eight million euros, while last year it was less than 7 million euros.

AAK has suggested two other names from LVV for parliamentary speaker: Saranda Bogujevci and Shqipe Selimi. The party has described Haxhiu as a non-unifying politician.

"The approach that Ms. Haxhiu has had, the language she has used towards the opposition is conflicting, this was the reason [for her non-vote by AAK]," the party's MP, Time Kadrijaj, tells Radio Free Europe.

Unlike other parties, the LDK has said that it will not vote for any candidate proposed by the LVV for Speaker of the Assembly.

Gërgi from the GSLP also believes that Haxhiu, during her political engagement as an MP and as Minister of Justice, has used harsh language towards political opponents.

This is one of the reasons, according to him, why PDK and AAK are seeking another name from LVV, who would be acceptable as speaker of parliament to other parties as well.

"For example, we can compare him to the Vetëvendosje candidate in the last legislature, Glauk Konjufca, who managed to get some votes even from the opposition," says Gërgi.

However, he expresses the opinion that the disagreements of political parties regarding Haxhiu's name as speaker are being used as a pretext by the parties to delay the constitution of the Assembly.

Gërgi emphasizes that the completion of this process paves the way for the formation of the new Government.

To do this, LVV, as the winner of the elections, will have 15 days.

If it fails, then the president of Kosovo chooses the party that proves to her that it has 61 votes to form the executive.

The way out of the situation, according to Gërgi, would be the formation of a stable government by the LVV, with one of the major parties, the PDK or the LDK.

The agreement for such a government, as he estimates, is not even on the horizon, while neither LVV on the one hand, nor PDK, LDK and AAK on the other, have the political will to form a fragile government.

"Unfortunately, we are seeing a kind of clumsiness from the country's political elite to form a government, and we are silently marching towards new [early] elections," Gërgi assesses.

The constitutive session of the Kosovo Assembly, which began on April 15, has been interrupted five times.

According to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, it may continue no longer than 48 hours from the interruption, with no limits on how many extensions it may have.

Without the election of the Speaker of the Assembly and its Vice-Speakers, the process of constituting this legislative institution is not considered complete./REL