Democratic League of Kosovo

Kosovo's parliament will vote on Wednesday morning on whether to endorse a new government led by Avdullah Hoti, the deputy head of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, only four months after the same chamber voted in a government led by Albin Kurti.

The decision by the Kosovo government at the weekend to introduce new reciprocity measures against Serbia has sharply divided opinion at home and abroad, with the EU slating the move and some domestic leaders, including the President, also condemning it.

The Constitutional Court of Kosovo on Thursday ruled that President Hashim Thaci did not make an unconstitutional decision when he gave a mandate to a new prime minister to form a new administration without holding fresh elections.

He took this action after the outgoing ruling party, Vetevendosje, did not nominate anyone for the role.

As the results of Central Election Commission showed, the once dominant Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, came third, winning just over 21 per cent of the votes. The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, won over 11 per cent.

Kosovo's incumbent Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, on Tuesday night condemned a death threat he said he had received from a phantom organisation called the "Albanian Volunteers' Guard", as the country edges close to the Constitutional Court ruling on his request to annul President Hashim Thaci's decree mandating Avdullah Hoti to form a new government.

Pressing on with his plans to form a new government without holding fresh elections, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci on Thursday asked the former junior governing party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Isa Mustafa, to name a potential mandator to form a new administration.

"Next week I'll take the final constitutional steps to enable the formation of a new government with full legitimacy from parliament, capable of fighting COVID-19 and serving the people," the President tweeted. 

Isa Mustafa, leader of the former junior partner in government, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, on Tuesday said his party was ready to form a new governing coalition with smaller parties - but will not discuss potential candidates for the post of prime minister before officially receiving a mandate from the President.

The director of Serbia's Government Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, has called on Srpska Lista [Serbian List], the Belgrade-backed political option in Kosovo, to stay out of what he called the "Albanian-Albanian" political conflict in the country.

The overthrow of the Kosovo government under Albin Kurti on Wednesday night has created a fluid political situation, similar to that after the last election, creating the need for the formation of a new government, without excluding the possibility of new elections.