The constitutional deadline for constituting the assembly expired on August 7. A first attempt to elect leadership on August 6 produced no result, and a session resumed on August 8 was cut short after acting Prime Minister and Self Determination leader Aljbin Kurti asked for more time to put forward a candidate for speaker. On September 4, Dehari announced that the constitutive session would resume today, after Self Determination and the Democratic League of Kosovo (DSK) had reached an agreement to move the process forward. Ahead of the session, the Srpske vesti portal reported that six DSK lawmakers opposed the deal on the presidential candidacy.
After the speaker was elected, the assembly moved to nominating candidates for the five deputy speaker posts. Self Determination proposed Ardijan Golaj, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) proposed Vljora Citaku, and the DSK proposed Kujtim Salja. Emilija Redzepi was nominated on behalf of the smaller non-Serb minority communities. The Serb List put forward a candidate for the deputy speaker seat reserved for the Serb community.
“On behalf of the Serb people, with the signatures of a majority of lawmakers… we are proposing Mr. Slavko Simic as a candidate for deputy speaker of the assembly,” Serb List parliamentary group leader Igor Simic told the assembly.
After parties failed to agree on the voting procedure for deputy speakers, Hadziju called a 30 minute break for consultations with the heads of parliamentary groups and asked for a constitutional review of the Serb List’s nomination. The recess, according to Kosovo Online, ran longer than announced, lasting nearly an hour and a half. When the session resumed, Hadziju said Simic had made a statement while presenting the nomination that she considered unacceptable and asked him to retract it; when he did not, she withdrew his right to speak and adjourned the session, announcing it would continue on Friday at 11 a.m.