Some words that the Serbian List MP, Igor Simić, used while proposing a fellow party member for deputy speaker of the Kosovo Assembly from the ranks of the Serbian community, were among the reasons for the postponement of the constitutive session of the 11th legislature, on September 9.
While the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) considered Simić's use of the phrase "on behalf of the Serbian people" unconstitutional, the Serbian List accused its leader, Albin Kurti, of trying to delay the formation of institutions so that new parliamentary elections can be held in December, when he can also count on the votes of the diaspora.
Is the use of this term controversial?
Former judge of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, Kadri Kryeziu, tells Radio Free Europe that Simić should have proposed the candidate for deputy speaker of the Assembly with the words “on behalf of the parliamentary group of the Serbian List”, but he does not justify the reaction of the LVV either. According to him, the Constitution of Kosovo has already been violated, since the Assembly was not constituted within 30 days of the certification of the election results - a deadline set in one of the decisions of the Constitutional Court.
Kosovo has been in a deep political and institutional crisis for almost two years. The latest elections, held on June 7, were the third in 18 months and were called after political parties failed to agree on a new president.
"The deadline for the constitution of the Assembly ended on August 7. Now we only have political maneuvers, Balkan anger and primitivism," Kryeziu assessed.
Serbian List MPs Igor and Slavko Simić during an earlier plenary session.
Sociologist and political analyst, Artan Muhaxhiri, tells Radio Free Europe that the use of the term "Serb people" is not controversial.
He describes the decision of the election winner, LVV, to interrupt the session for this reason as a "populist act", which was used because "Vetëvendosja needed an alibi to postpone the constitution of the Assembly."
"Simić used the same expression without any problem in the Assembly in 2021, as did Albulena Haxhiu in 2018 in her position on the dialogue, but also Kurti himself on June 3, 2023, in his speech in the Assembly regarding the attack on KFOR in northern Kosovo," says Muhaxhiri.
The MP of the party that enjoys the support of official Belgrade had used this term, which LVV now considers controversial, even in the session of October 10, 2025, when he had said: "Using the constitutional right, we propose that the deputy speaker of the Assembly from the Serbian people be Zlatan Ellek."
Muhaxhiri estimates that, considering the current circumstances, the Kosovo Assembly will not be constituted soon, as "Kurti does not want this."
He points out that Kurti, who is also the acting prime minister of Kosovo, enjoys great support from the diaspora, and that a possible scenario is that he aims to hold new elections around the end-of-year holidays, when voters from abroad usually come to Kosovo.
"And, most likely, the Constitutional Court will have to engage strongly again and try to contribute to regulating this great political chaos," he says.
The Constitutional Court has intervened several times over the past two years to unblock the processes towards the formation of institutions. The newly elected Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, during the session of September 9.
Why are the candidates of Albanian parties also contestable for the LVV?
In the constitutive session of September 9, Albulena Haxhiu of the LVV was elected Speaker of the Assembly.
The procedure then stalled at the election of five vice-chairmen - three from Albanian parties and two from non-majority communities. Haxhiu postponed the session to 11 September, due to disagreements over the vice-chairmen from Albanian parties, as well as the way in which the Serbian List presented its candidate proposal.
The parties could not agree on how the deputy chairmen should be voted on: separately or in a package. In the previous composition of the Assembly, the voting was done in a package.
Muhaxhiri says that the recent developments do not surprise him, as, according to him, the LVV leader "uses strange methods and establishes surreal frameworks for political action."
In this context, he explains that Kurti has declared that he will not support the candidacies of Kujtim Shala from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and Vlora Çitaku from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), as they have publicly said that they will not support his candidate for president of Kosovo.
"This means that Kurti publicly demands that they give up their political positions, careers and identities, or that their parties submit to his wishes and replace them with other candidates who would be acceptable to him. This is science fiction, not real politics," says Muhaxhiri.
Like the Serbian List, the LDK and PDK have accused the LVV and the incumbent prime minister of delaying the process of forming new institutions. /REL
