Snap Polls to Follow Kosovo Government Collapse

Emergency elections look set to be announced in Kosovo on Monday after the junior government partner, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, decided to withdraw from its coalition with the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK.

Lawrence Marzouk

If, as is likely, the assembly is dissolved on Monday, elections will now be held 45 days later, on December 2.

The move comes one day after the acting President, Jakup Kransiqi, who is a member of the the PDK, announced elections would be held on February 13 following the resignation of the country’s president, Fatmir Sejdiu, last month.

LDK’s decision has caught their partner, PDK, and other political parties by surprise. A series of emergency meetings are currently being held in Pristina to determine the next political moves.

Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuci of the PDK told Radio Free Europe that LDK’s decision had put the country in an ‘institutional crisis’.

“An emergency election can be one of the ways to get out of the crisis as soon as possible,” he said.

In a statement announcing the LDK’s decision to break the government coalition today, the party said it would withdraw it’s deputy prime minister, ministers and deputy ministers from the government on Monday after carefully analysing the latest developments in Kosovo.

The LDK added that it ‘remained committed to being a powerful contributing factor in all the important processes of democratic government’.

Valdete Daka, Head of Kosovo's Central Election Commission, CEC, said that it would face a major challenge if extraordinary elections are to be held.

"If the Kosovo Assembly is dissolved on Monday, then for us it will be very difficult," Daka told the television station KTV.

"Sincerely I hope this will not happen because the CEC would be in a difficult situation.”