Since February’s general election in Kosovo, political infighting and procedural deadlocks have left the country’s institutions half-paralysed, while citizens watch as their government struggles to function.

From the stalled election of the parliament speaker and deputy speakers to clashes over constitutional rules, the drama unfolding in Pristina is not just about who ends up in power, but also about the future of a country still haunted by its past.

Kosovo has been stuck in a political stalemate since April 15, when the first constituent session of the parliament after the general elections ended without results. Since then, sessions have been called almost every two days, more than 50 in total, but with little to no progress.

Only on August 26 did the assembly finally manage to elect a speaker — Dimal Basha — yet even then, one of the five deputy speaker posts, reserved for a representative of the Serbian community, remained vacant. This failure has pushed the assembly into yet another deadlock.

The election of Basha, a member of the biggest party in parliament, Vetevendosje, took place under the pressure of a Constitutional Court deadline, which gave the assembly 30 days to complete its leadership structure. The court warned that prolonged obstruction could undermine the legitimacy of the institution.

Prior to that, Vetevendosje had repeatedly pushed Albulena Haxhiu as its nominee for deputy speaker, even after dozens of failed attempts, while the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) stood firm in its refusal to back any figure associated with acting Prime Minister and Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti’s government.

Who is Basha?

Basha, 45, earned his degree in international criminal law at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, graduating with highest honours. He went on to serve two terms as a deputy in the assembly of Kosovo, representing Kurti’s Vetevendosje. His CV is impressive, but his election to the speaker’s chair has been anything but straightforward.

Despite securing 73 votes — with support not only from his own party but also from the PDK and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) — Basha has entered office under a cloud of controversy.

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) War Veterans Organization quickly demanded his dismissal, citing a research paper Basha co-authored more than a decade ago.

In their letter, the veterans accused him of insulting the KLA — the ethnic Albanian paramilitary force that fought for Kosovo’s independence in the 1990s — objecting to passages in the study that referred to the group as an “underground militia” and suggested its wartime funding came partly from drug trafficking networks. For veterans, such claims were an affront to the liberation struggle and to the memory of those who died in it.

Basha has repeatedly distanced himself from those sections of the paper. The work, published in 2012, was co-authored with researcher Jana Arsovska while he was still a student. He insists his authorship was limited to Chapter 3, which examined the rise of fundamentalist Islam in Southeast Europe, and that he bears no responsibility for the parts dealing with the KLA.

In a Facebook post, Basha rejected what he described as “false reporting and political attacks”. “This is not the first time that untruths have been spread about me,” he wrote. “I feel obliged to clarify before all citizens that my authorship concerns only Chapter 3 of that work. I have never written anything against the KLA. On the contrary, I highly value its fight and the sacrifice of our people for freedom.”

But the criticisms extend beyond the veterans’ accusations. On the streets of Pristina, many believe Basha’s election was not the product of genuine political consensus, but of international influence. “He was elected under international pressure, while the real power is still in the hands of Kurti,” a source from Kosovo told bne IntelliNews.

Others point to his identity as part of the Ashkali community — an ethnic minority in Kosovo and southern Serbia, predominantly Muslim and often treated with prejudice. “That is one reason why people don’t love him and don’t take him seriously,” the same source added.

For now, Basha holds the speaker’s chair, but the backlash shows how fragile political legitimacy remains in Kosovo, where memories of the recent war, ethnic rivalries and external influence continue to shape today’s institutions.

Deputy speaker deadlock

Basha’s election initially looked like a breakthrough but since then, the assembly’s problems have only deepened. On August 30, the election of a deputy speaker from the Serb community failed again. The candidate was Nenad Rasic, minister for communities and returns since December 2022, but crucially not a member of the largest Kosovo Serb party, the Serbian List, which is close to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Incidentally, Vetëvendosje has ruled out any cooperation with the party.

Without all deputy speakers elected, the assembly cannot be considered fully constituted. The procedural steps taken in parliament to elect deputy speakers have thus been deemed unconstitutional, as has Basha’s decision to adjourn sessions without electing a crucial deputy speaker.

On August 27, the Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) warned that repeated violations of the constitution and the assembly’s rules of procedure regarding the election of deputy speakers from minority communities could lead to a new institutional blockage.

Despite these warnings, Basha declared the constitutive session closed on August 30, even though Rasic once again failed to secure enough votes.

Opposition leaders, including ex-prime minister and former KLA member Ramush Haradinaj, argued that separating the vote for deputy speakers representing minority communities was itself unconstitutional and undermined the principle of equal representation.

PDK MP Memli Krasniqi argued that the speaker cannot decide on the end of the constituent session, as both the constitution and parliamentary rules provide otherwise.

A game without a winner

What’s unfolding in Pristina looks like a political chess match — every party manoeuvring for advantage, but with no clear winner. Even if the election of deputy speakers is resolved, a bigger challenge remains: how to form a functioning government when no single party, or even a stable coalition, can command the 61 seats required in the 120-seat assembly.

Vetevendosje emerged from the elections as the strongest force with 48 seats, but not nearly enough to govern alone. The opposition has made it clear it will not partner with Kurti.

The second-largest party, the PDK, has 24 seats, followed by the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 20, and the AAK-Social Democratic Initiative (NISMA) coalition with eight. The Serbian List, representing Kosovo’s Serbs, secured nine of the 10 seats guaranteed for the community.

Kurti’s critics accuse him of alienating Kosovo’s traditional ally, the United States, and of straining ties with the EU through unilateral and sometimes reckless moves, particularly on sensitive issues involving the Serb minority.

Moreover, both Vetevendosje and the opposition parties accuse each other of blocking the constitution of parliament.

LDK MP Armend Zemaj claimed Kurti does not want to fully constitute the assembly — at least not yet, according to Reporteri.

“Kurti is not interested in fully constituting the assembly until he is certain he has the numbers to form a government. The entire situation is tied to the formation of the government,” Zemaj said.

The political deadlock has already taken a heavy toll on Kosovo’s governance and economy. The Kosovo Business Alliance warned that the ongoing institutional paralysis has caused “unprecedented damage” to economic development, cutting off access to crucial international funding and undermining investor confidence.

Business groups report that more than €60mn in EU pre-financing under the €880mn EU Growth Plan, along with another €90mn from the World Bank, remain frozen due to the parliament’s dysfunction.

Over the past six months, political and legal uncertainty has led to estimated losses of around €300mn, including a reduction of up to 25% in production capacities, suspension of international contracts, and the withdrawal of foreign investors.

Crisis at home, crisis next door

Kosovo’s political paralysis comes at a moment of turbulence in neighbouring Serbia, which wields an influence over Kosovan politics via the Serb minority in the north of the country. 

For months, student-led protests have gripped Belgrade and other cities, sparked by the deadly collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad that killed 15 people. What began as outrage over an accident has morphed into a broader challenge to President Aleksandar Vucic’s rule.

Vucic has long vowed never to recognise Kosovo’s independence. But with the EU growing increasingly frustrated and reports circulating that Brussels has “given up” on him, Serbia too seems to be at a turning point. 

The student protests echo the Colourful Revolution in North Macedonia in 2015-2016, which led to painful but strategic changes, yet left the country stuck in frozen EU talks. If Serbia is heading toward a similar storm, this would have significant implications for Kosovo, whose future engagement with the EU is dependent on the normalisation of its relations with Belgrade. 

For now, Kosovo’s parliament remains in limbo. Each failed vote erodes public trust, turning the situation into a game with no winner, as the country runs out of time and patience.