Kosovo MPs to Vote on New Govt Led by Avdullah Hoti

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.

On Tuesday, Arben Gashi, the head of the parliamentary group of the LDK, which was Kurti's governing coalition partner but initiated the no-confidence motion that toppled his government in late March, claimed that "we have 64 votes". There are 120 lawmakers in the Kosovo Assembly so this represents a majority.

The votes would include 28 MPs from the LDK, four from the Social Democratic Initiative, NISMA and 13 from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK.

The LDK is also counting on votes from lawmakers representing minority communities in Kosovo. The Belgrade-supported Serb party Srpska Lista has ten MPs, and there are ten minority MPs.

The vote is being held after the Constitutional Court on March 28 ruled that President Hashim Thaci did not act unconstitutionally by giving a mandate to Hoti to form a new administration without holding fresh elections.

Thaci gave Hoti a mandate after Kurti's outgoing ruling party, Vetevendosje, did not nominate anyone to replace him as premier.

Vetevendosje insisted that the country should hold new elections and called on Thaci to dissolve the assembly after losing the no-confidence vote.

However, Thaci had insisted he had the right to ask someone to form a new government without elections, and his stance was then endorsed by the Constitutional Court.

Former Prime Minister Kurti described the controversial court ruling as "unfair" and "unacceptable". Former Deputy Prime Minister Haki Abazi went further, calling it evidence of "state...

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