Slow Count Keeps New Kosovo Govt in Limbo

The ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and the recently established coalition between the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK and Nisma per Kosoven [Initiative for Kosovo] are still at loggerheads over who has the right to form a new government.

Meanwhile, no action can be taken before the results of the general election held on June 8 are officially certified.

The Central Election Commission said it will announce the final results once the counting process at the Counting and Results Center is finished.

Burim Ahmetaj, from the center, told Balkan Insight they were still dealing with votes cast by mail and with votes of people with special needs.

“I believe that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow the counting of the provisional votes, votes cast by mail and the votes of people with special needs will be finished,” Ahmetaj said.

The results will have to be certified by the CEC after a 24-hour-period during which the political parties can lodge complaints about the process.

If a complaint is filed, the CEC will have to wait until it is resolved by the Elections Complaints and Appeals Panel, ECAP, before it can certify the election results.

According to preliminary results, the PDK won most of the votes in the June 8 polls. It won 30 per cent of the vote and will hold around 36 seats in parliament.

The LDK, led by Isa Mustafa, won 25.75 per cent of the votes, taking 30 seats, while Ramush Haradinaj’s AAK won 9.61 per cent of the votes, giving it 13 seats.

The new Nisma per Kosoven [Initiative for Kosovo] established by two PDK defectors, Fatmir Limaj and Jakup Krasniqi, just passed the threshold, winning 5.24 per cent of the votes. It is expected to have...