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Kosovo's President Names New Candidate For Prime Minister In Bid To Resolve Crisis

May 01, 2020

Kosovo's president has formally asked a top official of the second-biggest party in parliament to form a new government in a bid to resolve a political crisis in the country.

President Hashim Thaci on April 30 nominated Avdullah Hoti of the center-right Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) to replace acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti. Hoti previously served as finance minister and deputy prime minister.

Thaci made the announcement after LDK leader Isa Mustafa gave assurances that the party has a majority of votes in parliament to form the new government. The LDK has formed a coalition with two smaller parties, giving it the required 61 votes in the 120-seat parliament.

Kurti's outgoing Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party says Thaci's decree is unconstitutional and filed a complaint at the Constitutional Court challenging it. The party claims that only it is entitled to form a new cabinet and that if it fails, the country should hold an early general election.

The Constitutional Court is unlikely to hold a meeting before May 4 because of the May 1 national holiday.

The LDK finished second with 28 seats in last year's election behind Kurti's leftist-nationalist Vetevendosje party, and the two parties formed an uneasy coalition.

Kurti's government collapsed in March after only 50 days in power, losing a no-confidence vote initiated by the LDK, amid disputes over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the removal of trade tariffs on Serbian goods.

Kurti has stayed on in a caretaker capacity. He wants to hold snap parliamentary elections once the pandemic is over.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-s-president-names- new-candidate-for-prime-minister-in-bid-to- resolve-crisis/30586855.html

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Kosovo's President Names New Candidate For Prime Minister In Bid To Resolve Crisis