Kosovo faces presidential deadlock: no second candidate blocks Parliament session as deadline expires

Kosovo is approaching a critical political deadline as parliament faces the final day within which it can convene a session to elect a new president, raising concerns about institutional uncertainty if lawmakers fail to move forward.

So far, only one official candidate has been announced: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Glauk Konjufca of the ruling Vetëvendosje movement. According to parliamentary speaker Albulena Haxhiu, the absence of a second candidate creates a procedural obstacle that prevents the session from starting.

Haxhiu warned that if no parliamentary session is convened before midnight on Thursday, Kosovo could enter what she described as “uncharted territory”, underlining the risk of institutional uncertainty in the next phase of the political process.

The situation comes as incumbent President Vjosa Osmani enters the final month of her term in office. Against this backdrop, she has submitted to parliament a proposal for constitutional amendments that would introduce the direct election of the president by citizens.

The amendments themselves are not new. They were originally drafted in 2011 and have now returned to the political agenda at a moment of heightened political activity over whether the ruling Vetëvendosje party would support Osmani for a second term.

Instead, the governing party appears to have shifted the focus of the process towards the candidacy of Konjufca, effectively choosing a different parliamentary path and altering the axis of political negotiations surrounding the presidential election.

At the institutional level, the presidency’s initiative quickly triggered a dispute over whether the proposed constitutional amendments can be examined at this stage.

Perparim Gruda, chair of the parliamentary committee on legislation, mandates and immunities, argued that the amendments cannot be reconsidered because the relevant deadlines have long expired since the proposals were submitted to Kosovo’s Constitutional Court in 2011.

Gruda also noted that Kosovo’s constitutional framework has changed since then, which in his view further complicates the procedural basis for reactivating the amendments today.

However, Vetëvendosje lawmaker Adnan Rrustemi offered a different interpretation. He said that the necessary conditions have been met for the proposal to proceed through the parliamentary process, shifting the disagreement into the realm of procedural interpretation.

The debate was further enriched by the intervention of Eugen Cakolli, a researcher at the Kosovo Democratic Institute (IKD), who argued that both the process and the substance of the amendments fail to address the current situation and the risk of a crisis if parliament fails to elect a president.

According to Cakolli, constitutional amendments require 80 votes – a two-thirds majority of all MPs – including crucial support from minority communities. Achieving such a level of consensus would be extremely difficult under the current parliamentary composition, he said, meaning the proposal cannot function as an immediate “exit strategy” from the potential deadlock.

Cakolli also pointed out that even if the amendments were approved, their text stipulates that presidential elections must be called up to six months before the end of a normal presidential term – a provision designed to ensure a smooth and predictable institutional transition.

Under the current circumstances, he argued, such a formula cannot be applied in a functional way. Even if the amendment were to enter into force now, it would realistically only be applicable in a later timeframe, which he placed around 2031.

Moreover, Cakolli stressed that moving to a new model of presidential elections would require an extensive framework of implementing legislation and regulatory acts covering the electoral process, election administration, candidate nominations and other technical aspects.

Given the limited timeframe, he said, this would be practically impossible to complete in time.

He also recalled that Kosovo’s Constitutional Court has recently emphasised that overly accelerated procedures that bypass normal legislative standards may undermine legal certainty.

Caption: First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora of the Republic of Kosovo Glauk Konjufca with Albanian Minister for European and Foreign Affairs Elisa Siropali on 25 February 2026. [Glauk Konjufca on X] 

• elections in Kosovo
• Vetëvendosje
• Western Balkans

Updated: March 6, 2026 - 06:56