The junior partner in Kosovo’s ruling coalition said on Saturday that it was quitting the government, depriving it of a parliamentary majority and setting the stage for an election in as little as 45 days.
Kosovar Acting President, Jakup Krasniqi, had on Friday called an early election for Feb. 13 next year.
However, the Democratic League of Kosovo’s (LDK) exit from the coalition could mean an even earlier emergency vote since Kosovo’s Constitution mandates going to the polls 45 days after the government loses its majority.
It remained unclear precisely when the vote would be held.
The coalition’s breakdown will delay EU-sponsored talks with Serbia, which refuses to recognize the independence of its former southern province, as well as the privatization of important state-owned companies.
WORSENING RELATIONS
LDK relations with Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) have worsened since LDK leader Fatmir Sejdiu resigned as national president last month after a court ruling that he could not simultaneously be a party leader and the head of state.
The two parties, the biggest in Kosovo, have wrangled over policy and personality differences. For example, the LDK opposes Thaci’s approach to selling off the state telecom concern.
“From Monday, Oct. 18, 2010, LDK will withdraw from the ruling coalition and the government of the Republic of Kosovo,” Sejdiu said.
The LDK has six out of 18 Cabinet ministers.
Thaci’s party said the LDK decision was “bad news” for Kosovo and tipped the country into a political crisis.
“After this decision we have new circumstances and an institutional crisis,” deputy PDK leader Enver Hoxhaj said, reading a party statement. “Now, emergency constitutional and political solutions are needed for our country.”
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
Kosovo, the youngest and one of the poorest countries in Europe, needs foreign investment to reduce an unemployment rate of more than 45 percent.
The southern Balkan state had planned to privatize the state-owned telecoms firm and choose a company to build a badly needed coal-fired power plant this year.
Rising tension between the two main coalition partners after the president’s resignation and preparations for early elections has cast doubt on both projects.
Serbia lost control of Kosovo in 1999 after NATO carried out a bombing campaign to halt Belgrade’s killing of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in a two-year counter-insurgency war.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population, declared independence in 2008 in a move that has been recognized by 70 countries including most EU members and the US.
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