In an unprecedented event since Kosovo declared independence in 2008, the inauguration of the country’s new parliament was blocked again on Thursday after the parties failed to agree to verify the new MPs’ mandates.

Avni Dehari, who chaired the inaugural session, called on the Commission for Verification of MPs’ Mandates to reach a consensus. But this was not reached after several representatives of mainly opposition parties left the meeting.

“Unfortunately, there was no consensus,” Dehari said, suspending the session and calling for another attempt on Saturday, within a 48-hour legal deadline to complete the process.

Earlier, on Tuesday, only 52 MPs from the ruling Vetevendosje party and its new ally, the Social Democrat Initiative [Nisma Socialdemokrate] out of 120 voted to verify the MPs’ mandates.

Opposition parties blamed Vetevendosje for the blockage. Their justification for not voting to verify the mandates is that acting Prime Minister and Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti and his ministers did not resign their ministerial posts after winning seats as MPs, as the law dictates.

Kurti has responded that this would create an “institutional vacuum”.

The logjam further delays the formation of important institutions deriving from the February 9 parliamentary elections. The verification of mandates opens the way for the election of a permanent speaker and his deputies, ahead of a vote on the new government.

The head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, Memli Krasniqi, told the media on Thursday: “They’re not even close to a majority. I invite them not to hold the constitution of the Assembly hostage, to not hold the establishment of institutions hostage.”

The head of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Lumir Abdixhiku, added that “the chairman [Dehari]. .. unjustly interrupted [the session] even though there was a quorum and [the right] conditions …This was a violation, an unusual practice”.

Inauguration of the new parliament was blocked earlier on Tuesday, when opposition parties also refused to adopt the “Report of the Commission for the Verification of the Quorum and Mandates of MPs”

After temporary speaker Dehari broke off the session on Tuesday, he said he would send a letter to the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, on how to act in the new situation. Osmani responded on Wednesday, calling for a new session within 48 hours, as per the laws and regulations.

Kurti on Tuesday described the failure to adopt the report on the verification of mandates as an “intra-institutional attack on Kosovo and its democratic elections”.

Kurti sent his resignation notice as acting Prime Minister to the speaker on Tuesday in order to be sworn in as an MP.

He claimed his government had effectively resigned with a statement to the Central Election Commission on March 27, made together with his cabinet, following the end of their four-year governing mandate on March 23.