Imposing an electoral system. The case of Kosovo

by Lino Sciarra

After the election of the first provincial Assembly in Kosovo, a deadlock of three months affected the new elected institution, which was able to elect the President and the Government only at the beginning of March, after a difficult power sharing agreement was reached between the three main Albanian parties. Whereas most of the analyses – such as the ones published by Radio Free Europe, International Crisis Group, UNMIK newsletter Focus Kosovo – blame the unrealistic expectations of Albanian leaders in general and of Rugova in particular, in my opinion the origin of the deadlock has to be found in the electoral system imposed by internationals. In this essay, I will analyse in detail, with the help of three tables that I realised elaborating OSCE data, the three main components of the electoral system: the formula chosen to allocate the 100 not reserved seats (paragraph 2), the 20 reserved seats (paragraph 3), and the gender quota (paragraph 4). The aim is to demonstrate how all these elements worked against the biggest Albanian parties and especially LDK. Eventually, I believe that this electoral system has contributed in a decisive way to generate the crisis that affected the new born institution.