Pristina – For the third time in just over a year, Kosovo voters are expected to return to the polls to elect a government, after deeply divided MPs failed to elect a president late Thursday.
The assembly session was adjourned shortly before midnight, when the deadline to elect the new president expires. If the president is not elected, the incumbent has to dissolve the assembly and call snap elections.
“I adjourn the session. We don’t have a quorum for voting,” parliamentary speaker Albulena Haxhiu said, adding that the session will be continued.
The opposition boycotted the session and only MPs of the ruling Vetevendosje party were present in the parliament.
However, since the session was adjourned and not completed, it was not clear whether President Vjosa Osmani will call elections on Friday morning or wait for the assembly session to formally end.
A general election a year ago left Kurti without the majority needed to form a government, leading to months of parliamentary stasis.
Polarised lawmakers eventually forced a December snap poll, which Kurti’s party won with over 51 percent of the vote, securing 57 seats.
Last month, Kurti appeared poised for a third term, after being elected to the position with the support of some ethnic minority parties – but the 50-year-old will now have to recontest elections.
The need for fresh elections will further stall negotiations with Serbia, which has never recognised Kosovo’s independence, over the situation in the Serb majority north of the country.
The normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina remains key to both countries’ stated ambitions to join the European Union.
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Source: AFP
