Democratic League of Kosovo

Court gives Thaci's party right to propose assembly speaker

PRIŠTINA -- There will be no snap parliamentary elections in Kosovo, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has decided, Tanjug is reporting.

PRISTINA – There will be no snap parliamentary elections in Kosovo, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has decided and gave the opportunity to the biggest parliamentary group, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) of the outgoing Prime Minister Hasim Taci, to put forward a candidate for chairman of the Kosovo Assembly.

Kosovo may have to hold fresh elections – three months after the last ones - after Constitutional Court on Friday suspended the election of an opposition speaker.

The court said Isa Mustafa’s 17 July nomination was “unconstitutional because it was not the largest parliamentary group that nominated the speaker,” the court said.

The court hearing should pave the way for a ruling designed to end a political stalemate in Kosovo over the election of a speaker - and the formation of a new government.

The Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, is contesting the election of an opposition politician, Isa Mustafa, as speaker.

Kosovo’s Constitutional Court is due to hold a hearing session on Thursday when the two major political blocs will present additional arguments on which one has the right to nominate a candidate for the post of speaker of the Assembly.

Kosovo to address religious intolerance

The president seeks greater institutional co-operation to reduce religious hate speech and vandalism.

Kosovo authorities are trying to undermine a trend of religious intolerance that has affected religious harmony and also the work of the dominant Islamic Community (BIK), experts said.

Following last week's dramatic scenes in parliament over the vote for a new speaker, the President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, has put back her plans to nominate a Prime Minister-designate.

The President had previously announced that she would nominate a candidate for Prime Minister after the first session of parliament on July 17.

PRISTINA - Isa Mustafa, leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (DLK) and candidate of a post-election coalition made up of the DLK, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AFK) and the Initiative for Kosovo, was elected speaker of the Kosovo Assembly Thursday.

Isa Musfata, head of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, was elected speaker of Kosovo's parliament after 65 of 83 MPs present voted in favour.

“I will work in the interest of all MPs and all parliamentary groups no matter if they are present or not. We will work a lot for the integration of our minority communities, who elected us today”, he said after taking office on Thursday.

The opposition Vetevendosje Movement in Kosovo has just 16 seats in the 120-seat parliament, but still appears to hold the key to the Prime Minister’s office.