Alliance for the Future of Kosovo

In its latest annual report on trends in democracy, published on Wednesday, Freedom House alleged that two veteran political leaders in Kosovo, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj, are among various powerful figures in the country who have criminal connections.

Kosovo's ruling Vetevendosje party suffered a heavy blow in Sunday's mayoral election runoffs, winning only four of the 12 municipalities it was competing in, and losing in the capital.

Kurti's party did badly even in the municipalities where it had more than 60 percent of the votes in the parliamentary elections in February.
That Kurti experienced a total debacle is shown by the fact that in 38 municipalities in which there were elections, he did not get a sufficient number of votes to win in the first round.

Ahead of the expected resumption of the stalled dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008, Kosovo leader Albin Kurti is coming under domestic pressure to get the United States involved in the European Union-facilitated process.

The Pristina Basic Court ordered 30 days' detention of two suspects arrested on March 9 on vote-rigging and bribery suspicions, Mirlinda Gashi, the court's spokesperson, confirmed on Friday.

The opposition Vetevendosje party was on course for a landslide victory in snap parliamentary elections in Kosovo on Sunday, on a day that its leader and prime ministerial candidate, Albin Kurti, described as a "bright day" when he cast his ballot at a Pristina polling centre in the morning.

Former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj is being promoted as Kosovo's possible next president after his party authorised him on Wednesday to represent it in discussions with its coalition partners on a potential reshuffle - and on who the next president should be.

Kosovo's parliament on Wednesday confirmed in office a new government led by Avdullah Hoti, the deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, the junior party in the last government that initiated the no-confidence motion in March that toppled it.

MPs voted in the new government exactly four months after voting in Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje-led government on February 3.

Kosovo's parliament on Wednesday confirmed in office a new government led by Avdullah Hoti, the deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, the junior party in the last government that initiated the no-confidence motion in March that toppled it.

MPs voted in the new government exactly four months after voting in Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje-led government on February 3.

After the heads of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Isa Mustafa, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, on Wednesday agreed to work on creating a new coalition government, President Thaci said he would give a mandate to form a government to whatever coalition was able to assemble a majority.