Lutfi Haziri

After Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti seemed to dismiss the possibility of Serbs voting in Kosovo for presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia this Sunday, an opposition party said the move will prove harmful for the country.

Lumir Abdixhiku has been elected the new chairperson of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, exactly one month after Kosovo's oldest party was humbled disastrously in parliamentary elections, promising to restore the party "to its original place".

LDK leader and prime minister of Kosovo Isa Mustafa announced that  Avdullah Hoti would stand as the party's candidate to head up the  future government following a meeting with the LDK presidency on Tuesday.

"Their proposal, as well as mine, is for Avdullah Hoti to be the candidate for Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo" Mustafa said.

Shkuri Buja, an MP with the ruling Kosovo Democratic Party, PDK, which is currently in government with its junior partner, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, told BIRN on Tuesday that the break-up of the coalition is near.

Opposition politicians in Kosovo have repeated their demand for early elections, saying this alone will solve the country's acute political crisis.

Rexhep Selimi, an MP from the opposition Vetevendosje [Self-Determination] movement, said the government had lost its legitimity and even its legality.

The governing Democratic Party of Kosovo has named its leader Thaci as its candidate for the presidency, and its coalition ally, the Democratic League of Kosovo, has said it will support the nomination.

Kosovo's constitution stipulates that the next president should be confirmed by MPs 30 days before the incumbent's mandate expires.