PRISTINA (Kosovo), April 30 (SeeNews) – Kosovo’s president Hashim Thaci said on Thursday he has handed former deputy prime minister Avdullah Hoti of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) a mandate to form a government after a coalition cabinet led by the Self-Determination Movement (VV) collapsed in a no-confidence vote in parliament last month.
Kosovo's second biggest party in parliament, LDK, confirmed it has secured the parliamentary majority needed to set up a new government, Thaci said in video file posted on Facebook.
All political parties except VV support the formation of a new government, Thaci noted, adding that the parliament is expected to vote on the new cabinet lineup in the coming days.
LDK has already signed coalition agreements with the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), the Social Democratic Initiative (NISMA) and Serb minorities, local media reported earlier in the day.
The four parties have only 55 MPs in the 120-seat parliament but the coalition government will be backed by smaller parties, public broadcaster RTK reported.
In late March, Kosovo's coalition government led by VV lost a no-confidence vote requested by its main coalition partner, LDK, after less than two months in office.
The coalition partners held different views on how the coronavirus crisis should be handled and whether customs duties imposed on imports from Serbia should be removed completely. Tension between the two parties ran high after Kurti fired then-interior minister Agim Veliu of LDK for acting contrary to the government measures against the coronavirus outbreak.
Kurti's cabinet was formed in early February after the winner of the October 6 snap election, VV, and second-ranked centre-right LDK agreed on a coalition.
The October 6 election was called after former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj stepped down in July 2019 to appear for questioning as suspect before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. The institution is investigating crimes committed during the 1990s guerrilla war waged by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians against Serbia's government forces.
Kosovo, considered to be a potential candidate for EU membership by the European Commission, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and has so far has been recognised by more than half of the 193 UN member states. Belgrade does not recognise Kosovo's independence.