UNMIK/PR/1111
PRISTINA – The SRSG Harri Holkeri has written to the President of the Assembly, Nexhat Daci, to inform him that he has determined that the decision taken by the Assembly regarding the appointment of an Other Communities representative in the Presidency was without validity. In his letter, the SRSG required that the vote on the representative of the Other Communities (OC) political group in the Assembly Presidency be re-held in conformity with the Constitutional Framework (CF).
The Assembly should thus have been directed by Mr. Daci to consider and confirm the candidate agreed upon by the OC deputies. Under Mr. Daci’s direction, the Assembly did not consider the candidacy of Mr. Dzezair Murati agreed upon by OC Assembly members and, instead, voted for Ms. Zehra Elezi, a Vatan representative who did not have the endorsement of the OC.
“The action taken by the Assembly was thus in clear violation of Section 9.1.7 (f) of the Constitutional Framework, which provides that ‘one member [of the Presidency] shall be appointed from among the members of the Assembly belonging to parties having declared themselves representative of a non-Kosovo Albanian and non-Kosovo Serb Community. The method for appointing this latter member shall be determined by members of the Assembly belonging to these same Communities” – writes the SRSG.
The SRSG directed that the matter be reconsidered by the Assembly in full conformity with the requirements of the relevant section of the CF and the provisions of the Assembly Provisional Rules of Procedure. He noted that representatives of the OC had expressed to him their extreme concern that a matter, which is for them to resolve among themselves, was handled in a plenary session of the Assembly in a manner contrary to their agreed position and without regard for their views.