Kosovo’s acting president calls snap election on 14 February

English

Gazeta Express

06/01/2021 22:24

Kosovo will hold snap parliamentary elections on 14 February after the Constitutional Court ruled last month that the parliamentary confirmation of its government in June 2019 was illegal and the country must hold a fresh general election.

The President’s Office issued a statement announcing that acting president Vjosa Osmani has dissolved the Parliament and called the new parliamentary election on 14 February.

“Based on the constitutional responsibilities and the Constitutional Court’s Judgment No. KO-95/20, and after consultations with the political parties in parliament and the Central Election Commission, acting President, dr. Vjosa Osmani, has decided to call early parliamentary election on 14 February 2021,” the President’s Office said in a statement.

Acting President urged the CEC to take all necessary actions to organize and hold elections for the Parliament of Kosovo. Acting President also issued a decree dissolving the seventh legislation of the Parliament of Kosovo.

The Constitutional Court of Kosovo on 21 December 2020 ruled that the election of the government of Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti was invalid because the June parliamentary confirmation of his cabinet was passed with a vote by an MP who was convicted with a final court’s decision.

The government, led by the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), was elected by 61 MPs in country’s 120-seat parliament. The opposition party of Vetevendosje whose government was ousted after a no-confidence motion in Parliament, asked the Constitutional Court on legality of Hoti’s Government. The Vetevendosje argued that the decisive vote of MP Etem Arifi, representing a Roma minority party, was illegal because he had already been convicted of fraud.

Since Kosovo declared independence in 2008, not a single government has finished its full term. /GazetaExpress/