change font size

print version

copyright

Other articles:

Follow the Paper Trail

Courts Monitoring Report

Follow the Paper Trail

BIRN's "Justice in Kosovo" newsletter provides important information about the Justice system in Kosovo

Apply for Participation in the 1st Round of BIRN’s Balkan Cultural Cooperation Programme

Olli Rehn: Visa-Free Travel Will Follow Reforms

A Judiciary in Limbo

Kosovo Coalition Pact Harms Democracy

Kosovo: A Chapter Closes

NATO, UN to Get Tough in Kosovo

Kosovo Parties Mull Post-Election Coalition

Comment: What’s there to be elected?

EU Countries Prepare to Recognise Kosovo Independence

Kosovo’s Daily Bread Gets Expensive

US Ponders Freezing Kosovo's Status until 2020

Comment: January 5, 2020 - Kosovo's Moment of Truth?

Kosovo Albanians Look beyond December Deadline

Albanian Armed Group Re-emerges from Shadows

Kurti Case Presents Legal Headache for UN in Kosovo

Kosovo: Going Round in Circles

Kosovo Drifts towards Partition

Kosovo Hopes Raised by New Electoral System

Comment: Kosovo`s Choice Between Justice and Organised Crime

Strains Tell within Europe over Kosovo

Spectre of Partition Haunts Kosovo

New Cathedral Symbolises Catholic Rebirth in Kosovo

Serbs Mull Over Partitioning Kosovo

Kosovo Talks Unlikely to Come to Anything

Comment Russia’s Win-Win Situation in Kosovo

Interview Ceku Says Kosovo Is On The Way to Independence

Kosovo Shows Patience, But Frustration Over Status Mounts

Interview Kosova Should Set a Date for Independence Next Spring

IN DEPTH: Kosovo Ponders Voting Before Final Status

US-Albanian Diaspora Bridges Investment Gap in Kosovo

Investigation: Kaludjerski Laz Massacre Still Haunts Montenegro

Sharp Rise in Postwar Suicides Alarms Kosovo

COMMENT: Time to Mobilise Kosovo Behind Ahtisaari’s Resolution

COMMENT: Can Kosovo Be Economically Viable?

National Identity New Challenge for Kosovo

Kosovo Albanians Worry about Russia’s Veto

Kosovo Serbs Give Tsar Lazar’s Guard Wide Berth

Divided EU Stalls Debate on Kosovo

Kosovo’s Future Embassies Face Cash-strapped Fate

Kosovo factor delays formation of Serbian government

Comment: Questions for Kosovars After First 120 Days

Serbs and Albanians Compete for UN Mission's Favour

Serbia Plays Kosovo Partition Card

Romanian UN Officers Blamed for Pristina Deaths

First Shots Fired in Diplomatic "Battle for Kosovo"

Special Package: South Serbia Arranged Marriages Spell Disaster for Many Women

Kosovo Coalition Pact Harms Democracy

By Ilir Dugolli in Pristina

10 January 2008   Kosovo has a new government, but the deal between the two main parties that made it possible contains dubious elements, displaying some anti-democratic tendencies.

The long-awaited coalition deal between the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, was finally signed on Monday, paving the way two days later for parliament’s endorsement of a new government and its re-election of Fatmir Sejdiu as Kosovo’s president.

It had taken many weeks of hard bargaining to fine-tune the agreement following the inconclusive elections held on November 17.

While an end to an exasperating process of negotiations was a reason for relief, few elements of this coalition pact call for celebrations. One of the issues that has aroused concern is the provision in the accord that bars the two parties from tabling or supporting no-confidence motions against the Prime Minister, a post taken by the PDK’s leader, Hashim Thaci, and President Sejdiu, the head of the LDK.

Another problem with the agreement is that it extends Sejdiu’s presidential term by two years to five years. The day after the pact was concluded, that move was rubber-stamped by Joachim Ruecker, the head of UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, in the form of amendments to Kosovo’s Constitutional Framework.

UNMIK has administered Kosovo since 1999 when NATO’s campaign of air strikes forced the Serbian authorities and their troops out of the breakaway region. Now, as Kosovo’s newly-elected Assembly is set to declare independence from Serbia in the near future, it is all the more important for politicians to demonstrate their commitment to democracy.

Yet some of the elements of the PDK-LDK power-sharing deal have caused unease because of their likely impact on Kosovo’s still fragile democracy. So has the move to rule out fresh elections in the near future, as it would be desirable to consult the electorate, once the new constitution is passed and Kosovo has declared its independence.

The ease with which such decisions have been taken leaves little hope that the short-term objectives of inter-party stability will begin to yield to the longer-term goals of building a well-functioning democracy, with all the uncertainty that such a system might entail.

The pact is in stark contrast to the PDK’s attitude while it was in opposition. It will suffice to recall the failed attempts by the previous administration - the LDK in coalition with the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo - to postpone November’s parliamentary elections which were rightly criticized at the time by Thaci who was then the leader of the opposition.

He is now following the same course that he once denounced so vehemently. If decisions on when to hold elections and by how long to extend the president’s term are left to the mercy of a small group of individuals at the top of the power structure, Kosovo could easily end up with no elections, or at best, with very rare ones.

Regular, scheduled elections are a fundamental feature of a democracy. They are, in fact, a basic requirement.

Yet the PDK-LDK agreement threatens to devalue one of the strongest arguments for Kosovo’s institutional maturity - that of its having conducted in the last eight years several elections in line with the highest international standards.

Another disturbing element of the newly-formed government is that it consists of the two strongest parties. Grand coalitions, by default, are problematic because they tend to result in weak opposition as the smaller parties are more likely to be ignored in parliamentary debates and in public discussions. It is particularly important that under the terms of a grand coalition all checks and balances on those in power are kept intact.

Yet the coalition partners have pledged to rule out any involvement by their parties in no-confidence motions for the three-year term of the new parliament. By sweeping away this most critical tool of parliamentary control over the executive, the PDK and the LDK have done the last thing that a grand coalition should indulge in doing.

With the government now voted in, its survival – under the terms of the coalition deal - no longer depends on parliament. After that, it will be for the leaders of the PDK and the LDK to decide how much they wish to engage the Assembly in the governance of soon-to-be independent Kosovo.

It does not matter that since the Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government was promulgated by UNMIK in 2001, the device of the no-confidence motion has never been used.

It does not matter that the Constitutional Framework provides for a so-called “constructive vote of no-confidence”, which guarantees that no prime minister or government can be voted out of office, unless a replacement is simultaneously endorsed by parliament.

And it does not matter that the president may be voted out of office only if at least two-thirds of MPs are in favour - a threshold that is even higher than the combined number of lawmakers from the ranks of two main parties.

All these developments are likely to undermine what was claimed as an advantage of the new open system of elections whereby in November voters were able, for the first time, to cast their ballots for individual candidates, not just party lists.

Instead of MPs gaining more authority because they were personally endorsed by the electorate, the coalition deal now diminishes their role by tightening top-down control of the Assembly by the governing parties’ bosses.

The ruling coalition’s leaders have chosen to deprive their MPs of one of the fundamental tools of parliamentary democracy, to bring down an administration – even if in practice that mechanism is highly unlikely to be used in Kosovo’s political environment. And they have bestowed an extended mandate on the president, who happens to preside over one of the coalition partners.

Many may not find it disturbing that the new governing coalition has chosen to interfere with the Constitutional Framework. The problem is that such a low consideration for Kosovo’s highest legal document only builds on an already discouraging record when it comes to respecting the law and democratic principles.


Ilir Dugolli is co-founder of the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development, KIPRED, and a lecturer in law. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.