Friday, November 11, 2016 – The President of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, has held today a second meeting with the representatives of the political entities, with whom he has discussed again about the reform in the electoral system and the necessary legal reform.
He has notified that he will create two working subgroups, one on constitutional amendments and another on the legal reform for the general and local elections, which until the beginning of December will bring concrete proposals.
President Thaçi has said that he will also propose a code to the political entities, with which no candidate, whether be it for Mayor, MP or assembly member, be allowed to be included in electoral lists if he/she has an indictment or if he/she is under investigation
“Given the preliminary proposals, the majority of issues that reflect on the reform of the electoral system affect the amendment-supplementation of the Constitution as well”, said President Thaçi, referring to the method of the election of the President, the number of MPs, the election management and electoral zones.
To make change to the method of the election of the President, namely to determine the direct election of the President by the people, he said that amendment of Article 86 of the Constitution should be made. However, according to President Thaçi, the amendment-supplementation of this article is subsequently associated also with the subsequently of some other articles of the Constitution.
If it is decided to change the number of MPs, then he said that this also reflects on Article 64 of the Constitution, which includes the structure of the Assembly.
Whereas, if the electoral reform also extends to the management of the elections, President Thaçi said that Article 139 of the Constitution must be changed as well and there should be decided on the method of electing the President and the members of the Central Elections Commission
Whereas the issue of the decision for one or more electoral zones does not touch the Constitution, because Article 66 (5) itself determines that the conditions, electoral zones and procedures are regulated by law.
On the simplification of the electoral process, President Thaçi has said that a possible solution can be the drafting of a new law on elections.
Present at the meeting were the representatives of 17 political entities, those of the OSCE and the EU Office in Kosovo, as well as the representatives of some civil society organizations.