Kosovo Assembly Halted Again After Eggs Thrown at Kurti

The continuation of the Kosovo Assembly’s constitutive session opened on Saturday, August 8, more than an hour behind schedule, and was suspended again just minutes later. Speaker pro tempore Avni Dehari, a Self-Determination Movement lawmaker, confirmed that 109 deputies were present in the chamber and gave the floor to Self-Determination leader and acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti. Instead of naming a candidate for Assembly speaker, as had been expected of him, Kurti used his time at the podium to ask for more time.

“We still do not have a political agreement, so to avoid new elections, I am asking for additional time,” Kurti said.

As he walked back from the podium to his seat, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo lawmaker Time Kadrijaj threw eggs at him. Self-Determination deputies stood up to shield Kurti, lawmakers from various groups began shoving one another, and Dehari called Assembly security into the hall and suspended the session. Deputies were told they would be notified later about when proceedings would resume. No new date has been announced.

The deadline has passed, yet the session goes on

The constitutive session first opened on August 6, when deputies were sworn in, and was suspended that same day, also at Kurti’s request for more time. The Constitutional Court had earlier ruled that the Assembly must be constituted within 30 days of the certification of the final parliamentary election results. That deadline expired at midnight on August 7, as we reported while the continuation of the session was still pending.

The legal framework, however, sets out no explicit consequence if the Assembly is not constituted on time. That is why the session continued even after the deadline passed, a point opposition parties dispute. Ahead of midnight, opposition deputies gathered outside the Assembly building and tried to enter the plenary hall, but the doors were locked.

The 11th convocation therefore still has no Assembly speaker, and without that election there can be no vote on Kosovo’s president and no new government.

Why won’t Kurti put forward a candidate?

Kurti insists Self-Determination has the votes needed to elect an Assembly speaker but will not use them without a political agreement with the opposition parties. His argument is that constituting the Assembly without such a deal would leave institutions only half formed, since the election of Kosovo’s president would then lack a majority in the chamber, pushing the country toward early elections.

“We have not put forward a candidate for Assembly speaker, even though we have the votes,” Kurti said after the session was suspended.

At the same time, he called on the leaders of three opposition parties to meet:

• Bedri Hamza, leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo
• Ljumir Abdidziku, leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo
• Ardijan Djini, leader of the Alliance

Kurti said the egg throwing was not a problem for him, but that he regretted the opposition leaders were not responding to calls for meetings. He repeated his position that Kosovo’s president should be a non-partisan figure standing outside day-to-day politics.

Opposition points to 18 months of gridlock

Democratic Party of Kosovo lawmaker Arian Tahiri said the episode fit the same pattern. “This is a sorry abuse of Kosovo’s institutions by Albin Kurti that has gone on for 18 months,” Tahiri said, adding that only the scenarios change while the crisis drags on.

Democratic League of Kosovo lawmaker Jehona Ljustaku called on Self-Determination to put forward a candidate and described Kurti’s request for a delay as irresponsible. “This is a disaster and irresponsibility,” Ljustaku said, adding that deputies were elected to constitute institutions, not to keep them waiting.

Hadziju on the incident and the Constitutional Court

Albulena Hadziju, acting speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, said the incident did not change the substance of the problem.

“I have no problem with political actions by deputies in the Assembly,” Hadziju said, adding: “I think meetings should continue, not be refused.”

She also told anyone who believes the presiding officer violated the Constitution to take the matter to the Constitutional Court, opening the possibility that the dispute over the session’s legality after the deadline could be settled in court rather than in the chamber.

In the same statement, Hadziju noted that a similar situation occurred last year and again earlier this year, and is now repeating itself. That is what sets this Saturday apart from an ordinary incident: Kosovo is entering the same cycle for a third time in two years, one in which an election result exists but institutions are not assembled. That cycle carries a real cost, since every new round of negotiations means a longer delay in electing a president and forming a government, and it is precisely the fear of early elections that Kurti cites to justify the delay.

A message from the British embassy

The United Kingdom’s embassy in Kosovo issued a statement shortly after the session was suspended, noting that Kosovo has spent too many days over the past two years without a fully functioning parliament.

“Parliament is the heart of democracy. It holds government to account and enables lawmaking,” the embassy statement said, adding: “That is the responsibility of politicians, not of the system.”

The message was addressed to everyone in the hall, both the government and the opposition, and stands as one of the rare instances of a foreign embassy pinning the blockage not on the legal framework but on the people working within it.

For now there is neither a new date for the constitutive session nor confirmation that the four party leaders will meet. Until that happens, the Kosovo Assembly remains without a speaker, and Kosovo without a full set of institutions.