Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said on Thursday she had submitted constitutional amendments to parliament proposing that the country’s president be elected directly by voters rather than by lawmakers, urging political parties to support the initiative.
Osmani said the amendments were drafted by the Constitutional Reform Commission in 2011 and that she decided to forward them to the Assembly after repeated failures by political parties to elect a president under the current system.
“Given the consecutive failures to elect a president, I have just submitted to the Assembly constitutional amendments for the direct election of the president, prepared by the Constitutional Amendment Commission in 2011,” Osmani said in a post on Facebook.
Under Kosovo’s constitution, the president is currently elected by parliament. A candidate must secure a two-thirds majority in the first two rounds of voting, while in a third round a simple majority of 61 votes is sufficient, provided that a quorum of two-thirds of lawmakers is present.
The deadline to elect a new president expires on Thursday, with only one candidate formally proposed so far – Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca, nominated by Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s ruling Vetevendosje movement.
Parliament Speaker Albulena Haxhiu said earlier that a parliamentary session to elect the president cannot be convened unless at least two candidates are nominated.
Opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), have called for a consensus candidate but have not yet put forward a nominee. They have also criticised Vetevendosje’s proposal, warning it could deepen the institutional crisis and lead to new elections.
Osmani’s mandate expires on April 4, and under the constitution the new president must be elected at least 30 days before the end of the incumbent’s term.
If parliament fails to elect a president after three rounds of voting, the legislature must be dissolved and new parliamentary elections held within 45 days.
Vetevendosje holds 57 seats in Kosovo’s 120-seat parliament, followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo with 22, the Democratic League of Kosovo with 15 and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo with six.