Kosovo Faces Polls As MPs Dissolve Parliament

With 90 votes in favour, four against and three abstentions, members of the Kosovo Assembly dissolved parliament, paving the way for early elections expected in June.

By law, elections must be held between 30 and 45 days from the date of the dissolution of the Assembly.

At the session, Arsim Bajrami of the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, handed over the request for dissolution on behalf of 57 MPs who had signed it.

Arguing for "political stability", Bajrami asked all 114 MPs present to support the motion.

"We demand that all parliamentary groups to support this motion in order to move the country to early elections," Bajrami said.

The head of the parliamentary group of the PDK, Adem Grabovci, supported the motion.

The largest opposition party in parliament, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, said it had been calling for early elections for some time.

The head of the LDK parliamentary group, Ismet Beqiri, said it was time to "go into elections and send home this government".

A broad agreement to dissolve parliament followed talks between Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, head of the ruling PDK, Isa Mustafa, leader of the LDK, Ramush Haradinaj, of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and Mimoza Kusari - Lila from the AKR.

At a joint meeting with President Atifete Jahjaga, the leaders discussed the recent blockade of legislation in the Assembly.

The deicision to dissolve the Assembly came after MPs failed to resolve two key issues: the transformation of the existing Kosovo Security Forces into the Kosovo Armed Forces and reserved seats for ethnic minorities in parliament.

Serbian parties in the Assembly have conditioned their support for a vote on the Kosovo Armed Forces with...