LDK

The Kosovo government led by Albin Kurti was overthrown on Wednesday by a no-confidence motion initiated by the junior party in the governing coalition, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK.

Opposition lawmakers from the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK and Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) demanded on Thursday that the presidency releases a video of Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony for new Serb judges and prosecutors that was closed to media.

As Kosovo waits for official results from Sunday's local elections, some 17 municipalities already seem set for runoffs, according to preliminary data from local NGO Democracy in Action (DIA), which monitored the process. 

Kosovo citizens go to the polls on Sunday to vote for mayors and members of assemblies in the country's 38 municipalities, hoping a change in power will lead to a change in their daily lives.

The main battle is focused in the capital, Pristina, which is also the only municipality governed by the opposition Vetevendosje Movement.

A grand coalition between the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, led by Kadri Veseli, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, led by Ramush Haradinaj and Fatmir Limaj's initiative for Kosovo, NISMA, was agreed on Tuesday night - minutes before the deadline set by the Central Election Commission, CEC, to establish pre-election coalitions expired.

While the candidates of Kosovo's two main parties - the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, and the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK - for the post of Prime Minister remain unknown, it has become clear that neither Prime Minister Isa Mustafa nor President Hashim Thaci, will not contend for the post in the early election due on June 11.

In a move initiated by the opposition Initiative for Kosovo, Nisma, Kosovo opposition parties are hoping a no-confidence motion will oust the government of Isa Mustafa after 42 MPs filed signatures in parliament on Friday.

Two leaders of Kosovo's Vetevendosje [Self determination] Movement, party chairman Visar Ymeri and one of the founders, Albin Kurti, rallied several hundred supporters in Tirana, Albania, on Tuesday, explaining why they oppose the Kosovo parliament adopting a demarcation deal with Montenegro.

NGOs representing ethnic minorities in Kosovo have called for the dismissal of the Minister of Diaspora, Valon Murati, after he told a lecture at one of the private universities that minorities were "privileged".

Amid continuing uncertainties over the date of national elections in Kosovo, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has proposed June 8 as a potential option.

He made his proposal on Friday to the President, Atifete Jahjaga, at a meeting held at the presidency building in Pristina.