Three months after elections, Kosovo has no official prime minister-designate yet, despite today’s meeting between President Hashim Thaçi and Leader of Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (LVV) Albin Kurti on the issue.
Thaçi and Kurti had a brief meeting today to discuss whether LVV was ready to get the presidential mandate to form a government. After the meeting, the president stated he was giving LVV two more days to come with a name to lead the government.
The LVV replied that Thaçi had mentioned no deadlines in the meeting, and that any such limit in time would be unconstitutional. They added the party will inform the president about their choice for prime minister after their decision in the next party leadership meeting.
LVV won the Kosovo general elections in October with 29 of the 120 seats. Opposition’s Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) came second, with 28 parliamentary seats.
The president is required to assign a person designated by the winning party with the task to form the government.
The two former opposition parties have been in talks for three months but have not reached an agreement yet on whether they will form a coalition government.
As a result, Kurti was unable to give the name of its party’s prime minister-designate to Thaçi, although he is the only LVV candidate for the post.
Earlier today, Kurti announced LVV’s five ministers, and invited LDK to a coalition government, offering it five ministries and a deputy prime minister.
The prime minister-designate will have 15 days to get the parliament’s backing for his government after he is asked by the president to do so.
Kosovo’s new parliament was constituted on December 26, and LVV’s Glauk Konjufca was elected its speaker with LDK’s votes.
