Kosovo’s lawmakers vote to dissolve parliament opening way for snap election

By bne IntelliNews August 22, 2019

Kosovo’s MPs voted on August 22 to dissolve the parliament to open the way for a snap general election, the parliament said.

The snap vote will be held in the autumn, possibly in September or October, after Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj resigned in July to appear for questioning at the Hague-based court investigating war crimes against Serbs during the Kosovo war of independence in 1998-1999.

The motion for the dissolution of the 120-member assembly was supported by 89 of the 106 lawmakers present at the plenary session.

Parliament speaker Kadri Veseli said after the vote that the decision will be sent to the President of the Republic of Kosovo Hashim Thaci for approval.

The motion for the dissolution of the parliament was signed by 93 MPs and was sent for adoption earlier this month.

Parties are now in talks on possible pre-election coalitions as polls showed that no single party has a enough support to form a government alone.

Recently Kosovo’s governing Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) of outgoing PM Haradinaj and the Social Democratic Party of Kosovo signed a coalition deal. 

The new government will face the difficult task of resuming the EU-mediated dialogue with Belgrade on normalisation of the two countries' relations, after Kosovo imposed 100% tariffs on Serbian products in November 2018, which halted the trade between the two neighbours.

The upcoming vote will elect the seventh parliament composition since Kosovo declared independence in 2008.

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