Kosovo’s Kurti Seeks to Form ‘No Compromise’ Government Quickly

Kosovo's election winner, Albin Kurti of the Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) Movement, has for the past two days been in the parliament building holding meetings with leaders of all political parties that won seats in the February 14 general elections, trying to form a government quickly before turning to the issue of the country's next president.

Kurti has already said that he does not want to involve the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, which have governed Kosovo, together or separately, since the end of the war.

"We will not need compromises with the exponents of the old regime because the people want the new… [and] we do not intend to violate their will," Kurti said on March 3.

New MPs will gather on March 22 for a constitutive session of parliament which is expected to elect a new speaker. Confirming the constitutive session on Tuesday, Arberie Nagavci of Vetevendosje told media that "the government will be formed soon because we have the votes".

Vetevendosje won the elections with 50.2 per cent of the votes, which translates into 58 MPs in the 120-seat parliament.

Kosovo's constitution requires a minimum of 61 votes to form a government, meaning that Vetevendosje only needs to gain the support of three more MPs to secure a Kurti-led administration.

To get that majority, Kurti is counting on votes of MPs from minority ethnic communities.

Four of them - Elbert Krasniqi, an MP from the Egyptian community, Erxhan Galushi from Roma community, as well as Duda Balje and Emilija Redzepi from the Bosniak community - have already confirmed their support, while two MPs from the Turkish community are conditioning their support on seats in Kurti's cabinet.

'A...