Kosovo's top court asks lawmakers to end their political stalemate and elect a speaker in 30 days
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo's Constitutional Court on Thursday asked the country's newly elected lawmakers in Parliament to end three months of political stalemate and elect a new speaker within 30 days.
The court's move came at the request of 11 lawmakers, and it was not clear what would happen if lawmakers fail to abide by the court's wishes.
The Parliament has failed to elect a speaker since its first session on April 15 because other parties have been unwilling to work with that of acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, whose left-wing Self-Determination Movement, or Vetevendosje!, won only 48 out of 120 seats in the Feb. 9 election. That is down from 58 seats in 2021.
Kurti's party has failed in 37 rounds of votes to receive the 61 votes needed to elect a new speaker.
Without a speaker, Kurti cannot be formally nominated as prime minister and form a Cabinet. If the situation continues, the president can turn to any of the other parties. If no party can form a Cabinet, the country will face another parliamentary election.
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, won 24 seats, the conservative governing Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, 20 seats, and the right-wing Alliance for Kosovo's Future, AAK, eight seats.
Ten seats are reserved for Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority and 10 others belong to non-Serb minority members of Parliament.
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.
Kosovo holds municipal elections Oct. 12.
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.
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