Kosovo Heads for Snap Elections

KOSOVO – Kosovo is headed for snap elections after the country’s Parliament failed to secure enough votes to elect a new president on Tuesday, with opposition parties refusing to participate in the vote, resulting to a failure to secure the two-thirds majority of 120 representatives.

Only representatives of the rulings Self-Determination Movement and representatives of non-Serb minorities participated in the vote, who met four times during the day, but their 64 votes were not enough to elect a president.

Assembly Speaker and Acting President Albulena Haxhiu said that invitations had been extended to opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic League of Kosovo, but that they had refused to participate in the sessions.

In the coming days, Haxhiu is expected to call early parliamentary elections, which according to the Constitution must be held within 45 days.

This would mark the second time voters in Kosovo return to the polls just months after the Dec. 28 elections.

The term of former President Vjosa Osmani expired on April 4. In the months leading up to its conclusion, she signaled her intention to seek a second term.

However, Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s party, the Self-Determination Movement, which had supported her initial presidency, chose instead to put forward its own candidates – Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca and MP Fatmire Mulhaxha Kollcaku.

On March 5, after the Assembly failed to elect a successor, Osmani dissolved parliament. However, the Constitutional Court later overturned her decision and granted an additional 34 days to select a new head of state, warning that fresh elections would be unavoidable if no president is chosen by April 28.