Kosovo's new lawmakers are sworn in but Parliament fails to elect a new speaker

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo's legislature on Saturday swore in the 120 lawmakers who will sit in the newly elected Assembly, or Parliament, after procedural disputes between the political parties but failed twice to elect a new speaker, a process which may take the country into a prolonged legislative crisis

All parties who won seats in the Feb. 9 election voted unanimously in favor of taking up their mandates, opening the way to the election of the new speaker and deputy speakers.

The left-wing Self-Determination Movement, or Vetevendosje!, of acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti won 48 out of 120 seats in the election, falling short of the majority needed to elect a new speaker or to form a cabinet on its own. In 2021, the party won 58 seats.

The Vetevendosje! nominee for speaker, Albulena Haxhiu, was defeated in two successive ballots, with 57 votes, falling short of the 61 needed in a 120-seat parliament.

Parliament is due to convene on Monday, but without a speaker in place, the procedure for the session is unclear. The Constitution has not set the length of time needed for electing the new speaker.

Once the speaker and deputy speakers are elected, Kurti will be formally nominated as prime minister and must receive a simple majority, or 61 votes, to form a cabinet.

Kurti and the three main opposition parties have all ruled out working together in a coalition. The center-right Democratic Party of Kosovo, or PDK, holds 24 seats, the conservative governing Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, won 20 seats, and the right-wing Alliance for Kosovo's Future, AAK, has eight seats.

Ten seats are reserved for Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority, nine of them won by the Srpska Lista party which is directly supported by the Serbian government in Belgrade.

Kurti has turned to 10 non-Serb minority MPs and one ethnic Serb lawmaker, but he would still need at least two other votes.

If Kurti fails to form a cabinet, the president is entitled to turn to any of the other parties. If no party can form a cabinet, the country will face another parliamentary election.

A new cabinet is needed not only to run the economy and other services, but also proceed with the 14-year-long normalization talks with Serbia which have stalled.

Around 11,400 people died, mostly from Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, in the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo, which was formerly a province of Serbia. A 78-day NATO air campaign ended the fighting and pushed Serbian forces out.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, with most Western nations recognizing its sovereignty, but Serbia and its allies Russia and China don't.

The EU and the United States have urged Kosovo and Serbia to implement agreements reached two years ago that include a commitment by Kosovo to establish an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities and Serbia's obligation to provide de facto recognition of Kosovo.

——

Semini reported from Kavaja, Albania.