Prishtina, April 4, 2026 – The Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) assesses that the refusal of the Presidency of the Assembly to select the Secretary General of the Assembly and the announcement of a new vacancy without any legal basis constitutes one of the clearest examples of disregard for the law, institutional delay, and arbitrary decision-making by the very institution that is mandated to guarantee the rule of law.
Following the completion of all legal procedures for the selection of the Secretary of the Assembly and the successful proposal of two (2) candidates for voting, the Presidency of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo arbitrarily decided not to vote on either of them and to announce a new vacancy. This course of action is in clear contradiction with the applicable legislation, constituting an arbitrary decision that undermines the legal certainty of the candidates involved in the process, while also risking the establishment of a dangerous institutional precedent. Furthermore, this approach is, in legal terms, leaving the Assembly of Kosovo without a Secretary, a position which under no circumstances may be held by an Acting official for more than two (2) years.
The process for the selection of the Secretary General began on August 31, 2024, with the announcement of the public vacancy for this senior management position. The vacancy remained open until September 29, 2024, and eleven candidates applied, of whom only five met the legal and vacancy criteria.
Following the verification of applications, the Human Resources Management Directorate proceeded with the appointment of an ad hoc Committee, the organization of the written test on November 21, 2024, and oral interviews on November 25, 2024. The final results were published on November 26, 2024, and after the expiry of the complaint deadline and confirmation by the Independent Oversight Board for the Civil Service that no complaints had been submitted, the final report was submitted to the Presidency of the Assembly for decision-making on December 30, 2024.
In this process, the two candidates who passed the legal threshold and were proposed for selection were Arben Loshi with 90.2 points and Taulant Bajrami with 88.2 points. There were no complaints, no procedural challenges, and no remarks regarding the legality of the process.
According to Article 19 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, as well as Articles 47 and 49 of the Law on Public Officials, the Presidency of the Assembly in the VIII Legislature was obliged, within 30 days from the announcement of the successful candidates, to select and appoint one of the proposed candidates. This deadline has long expired, and the Presidency has taken no action to implement the law.
Moreover, the Assembly of Kosovo remained functional until March 22, 2025 and had sufficient time to conclude this process. Its inaction, both until that date and thereafter, does not justify an unlawful action that infringes upon the lawful rights of the candidates involved in this procedure. The absence of legal consequences for exceeding the deadline is also confirmed by the Assembly’s own legal opinion.
The legal opinion prepared for the Presidency of the Assembly itself confirms that the Human Resources Management Directorate has undertaken all necessary legal steps, from the announcement of the vacancy to the submission of the final report for selection. Nowhere in this opinion is it established that the process contained violations, deficiencies, or legal grounds for annulment.
Thus, the decision to propose the annulment of the vacancy and the announcement of a new one has no legal basis, constitutes a clear deviation from the purpose of the recruitment procedure, and infringes upon the lawful rights and legal certainty of the candidates involved in this process. The Presidency was not faced with a failed process, but with a completed, lawful, and uncontested process, in which it was obliged to select one of the two proposed candidates.
In this case, the failure to select a candidate is not merely a procedural omission. It constitutes a refusal to implement the law in accordance with the outcome of a lawful administrative process. As such, this course of action represents arbitrary interference in a procedure that had already been completed.
More concerning is the fact that the proposal to annul the vacancy did not receive the necessary support within the Presidency. With three votes in favour and three abstentions, the Presidency failed to reach any final decision, leaving the Assembly in an unacceptable situation of institutional paralysis.
This situation creates a dangerous precedent for all public institutions, sending the message that legal deadlines may be ignored, completed processes may be arbitrarily annulled, and successful candidates may be disregarded without any legal justification.
KLI considers that responsibility for this situation lies primarily with the President of the Assembly of Kosovo and, on the other hand, with all members of the Presidency of the Assembly, including representatives of the opposition, who, as evidenced by the minutes of the Presidency meeting held on 2 March 2026, did not react to the clear legal violations and did not insist on concluding the process in accordance with the law, but instead abstained when the annulment of the vacancy was proposed.
On the other hand, it should be emphasized that pursuant to Law No. 08/L-294 on Supplementing and Amending Law No. 08/L-197 on Public Officials, a position may be held by an Acting official for a maximum of two (2) years. In accordance with the standard established by the Supreme Court, this time period refers to the position and not the person, meaning that changing the name of the individual does not extend the possibility of holding a position in an acting capacity. Therefore, under the law, after the two (2) year period, a position cannot be held by an Acting official at all. In addition to the other violations identified above, this constitutes another argument for the urgency with which the Assembly must conclude this regular recruitment procedure by selecting one of the proposed candidates.
Therefore, KLI calls on the Assembly of Kosovo to restore legality in this process by immediately selecting one of the proposed candidates and by halting arbitrary practices that undermine the integrity of the public administration, the normal functioning of the Assembly, and citizens’ trust in state institutions.