Kosovo faced snap polls Tuesday, the first since declaring independence, after its parliament overwhelmingly voted to oust the government of Prime Minister Hacem Thaci. "I note that with 66 votes in favour, one against and two abstentions, the parliament has adopted the motion of no-confidence against the government of Kosovo," interim president Jakup Krasniqi told lawmakers after the vote.
According to the Kosovo constitution, passing a no-confidence vote triggers snap elections to be held within 45 days. Krasniqi is expected to dissolve parliament and announce the elections as soon as possible with media predicting the vote will be held in mid-December.
In a strange twist Thaci, whose government was ousted, hailed the vote as a new beginning. "The voting of members of the parliament is a vote for the future of Kosovo. It is a responsible decision that will mark a new beginning for the state of Kosovo," he said. According to observers, Thaci hopes the snap elections will provide him with a stronger mandate as he shifts the blame for the crisis to his former coalition partner, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).
Thaci's future was thrown into jeopardy when LDK quit the governing coalition in late September following the resignation of its leader Fatmir Sejdiu as Kosovo's president. The LDK had been the junior coalition partner with Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) until Sejdiu quit and pulled his followers out of government, after a court ruled he could not sit as both president and party leader.
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