President Hashim Thaçi has asked Kosovo’s largest parliamentary party Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (LVV) of acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti to submit the name of a new candidate for prime minister.
The official request was sent today, following two days of consultations the president held with all parliamentary parties on the next steps he should take after the Kurti government was ousted last week.
Thaçi has stated that the Constitution offers him two choices, one of which he considered an “obligation”:
“The options are two: going to elections or forming a new government, an option that would avoid elections under the circumstances of the pandemic, which is an obligation for me as president. The first chance [to form a new government] would go to the largest party, then we’ll see.”
LVV claims that the Constitutions requires the President to declare new elections. Other largest parliamentary parties (LDK, PDK, AAK) claim that a new government should form. Here is more on the two different articles of the Constitution that parties claim should apply.
Now that the President has decided, it’s up to LVV to submit the name of a PM candidate, who will need to get at least 61 votes in the 120-seat parliament within 15 days after the party submits his name. LVV has only 29 votes.
If the PM candidate fails to get approval for his government, then the President has to mandate the second largest party, LDK to form the new government. LDK has 28 votes and has been in talks for a coalition with some of the opposition parties.
However, the Constitution does not set deadline for the largest party to submit the name, and this might create more troubles in Kosovo’s politics.
