LVV's presidential candidate, Hatixhe Hoxha, was traveling by bus shortly before voting began in the Assembly, in a session attended only by majority MPs. She did not return, as she had announced. Feride Rushiti, the other presidential candidate of Albin Kurti's party, did not speak either, but was seen today in the courtyard of the Assembly. Opposition parties asked them to withdraw and not become part of what is being considered a violation of the country's constitutional order.
Express newspaper
Hatixhe Hoxha, one of the two candidates of the Vetëvendosje Movement for President, said last night that she was "on the bus" and would be notified "later", but she did not notify anyone - not even today.
She did not receive any votes from LVV MPs last night – not even from those who provided the 30 signatures for her candidacy – in the session for the election of the President, which was attended only by ruling MPs.
Hoxha, former LVV candidate for MP, did not indicate last night in a brief statement to KosovaPress whether she had been consulted in advance about the candidacy.
Apart from those few words just before the LVV began the session to elect the President, she said nothing more.
The Director of the Kosovo Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors (KRRT), Feride Rushiti, the other LVV candidate for President, did not speak at all. She was seen today in the courtyard of the Parliament as she got into a car.
Rushiti was unavailable to respond to Gazeta Express's inquiry regarding her candidacy.
Last night, she received 63 votes from LVV deputies and several minority deputies. In the hall with only 64 majority deputies present, one vote was invalid, while no one voted for Hoxha.
LVV MP Fatmire Mulhaxha Kollçaku, who withdrew from the presidential candidacy yesterday, said that Rushiti had decided "at this particular moment" to contribute to resolving the President's issue.
"Look, Mrs. Feridi is a woman of adult age, a lady who has never been involved in a political party, but who at this particular moment wants to contribute. I know that Mrs. Feridi has also had a death case. However, respect for both candidates," she said in a statement to the media in the Assembly.
Opposition parties have called on the two candidates proposed by the LVV to withdraw and not become part of the violation of the Constitution.
The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, PDK MP Vlora Çitaku, in a conference held today in the Parliament lobby, called on Feride Rushiti to "withdraw from this political game."
"From the bottom of my heart, I call on the honorable Mrs. Feride Rushiti to withdraw from this political, unconstitutional game of Albin Kurti, which is harmful to the state and to himself. I sincerely regret that he has agreed to politically lend his name for a dangerous political masquerade," she said.
Çitaku said that PDK appreciates Rushiti's commitment to civil society, but added that today "the greatest honor he can do for the country is to leave this race."
LDK Chairman Lumir Abdixhiku told journalists gathered in the Parliament last night that Prime Minister Albin Kurti has never mentioned Feride Rushiti's name as a potential candidate for President in the meetings they held on this issue.
"By faith, never, at any time. We didn't even know the second candidate," he said.
AAK Chairman Ramush Haradinaj said today that "the Constitution of Kosovo is being suppressed" with the procedure that the ruling party is following to elect the President.
"All those who become part of this, including the ladies in question, presidential candidates, will be covered with shame for the rest of their lives. So they will be covered with shame for the rest of their lives, regardless of how they have acted, what they have done so far - if they become part of the violation of the Constitution of the country, they will be covered with shame," he said.
The LVV started the session to elect the President alone last night, holding a vote, despite the fact that there were not 80 deputies in the hall. This, by experts on the Constitution and non-governmental organizations dealing with justice, was considered a violation of the country's constitutional order.
The ruling party's MPs gathered again today in the Assembly for the second round of voting for President.
Speaker of Parliament Albulena Haxhiu invited opposition MPs to participate in the session, as according to her, they are obliged to vote and enable the election of the President.
In the continuation of the session this morning, she initially gave opposition MPs until 14:00 PM to participate in the session.
In the next session in the afternoon, Haxhiu mentioned the "obligation" that he said the deputies have to enable the election of the President. The session was interrupted for the third time and its continuation was scheduled for 19:00.
Haxhiu interprets a judgment of the Constitutional Court differently, issued after it had asked him about the assessment of the constitutionality of the procedure for electing the President that had begun on the evening of March 5, claiming that MPs were obliged to participate and vote.
At the end of March, when the Constitutional Court ruled that MPs would have an additional 34 days to elect the President – since the Assembly had not had the 60 days from when the procedure was supposed to begin until the day it was supposed to end (30 days before the end of the current President's term) – it said that MPs cannot be forced and that it is "entirely up to their will" to do what they consider to be "in the best interest of the Republic of Kosovo".
“Secondly, and in relation to the mandate and exercise of the function of a deputy, the Court recalls that the Constitution in Article 70 [Mandate of Deputies] stipulates that deputies, as elected representatives of the people, are not subject to any binding mandate, and has specifically defined the grounds for the termination or loss of the status of deputy. Also, based on Article 74 [Exercise of Function] of the Constitution, deputies assume the responsibility to exercise their representative mandate in the best interest of the Republic of Kosovo and in accordance with the formal requirements set out in the Constitution, laws and the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly (see, case KO124/25, cited above, paragraphs 130 and 190). According to the Court, what deputies consider to be in the best interest of the Republic of Kosovo in terms of politics and public policies is entirely up to the will and decision of the deputies of the Assembly. While "The Constitution is respected, every election of elected officials and at the same time representatives of the people must be respected and the Constitution clearly stipulates that deputies are not subject to any binding mandate (see case KO72/20, cited above, paragraph 357 and case KO124/25, cited above, paragraph 181)", it is stated in point 175 of that judgment.
If the President is not elected by midnight tonight, Kosovo will have to hold new elections within 45 days.
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