Kosovo election result points path to uneasy coalition

By Figen Shaban and Dzihat Aliju

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AA) - Kosovo seems to be heading towards a path of uneasy coalition after official results of the June 11 parliamentary elections showed that no party bagged enough votes to win a clear majority.

According to official results released by the Central Election Commission, the alliance of three political parties led by former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders bagged the most seats, 39 out of the total 120.

The coalition includes the Kosovo Democratic Party (PDK), the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and the Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA). It is led by former Kosovan Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who was accused of committing war crimes in June 1999 when he was the commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Serbia had demanded his extradition but French courts rejected the demand.

Elections in Kosovo, a southeast European country which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, were called after the government collapsed in a sudden no-confidence vote this May.

Turnout for the early elections remained relatively high at 41.3 percent, the election commission head Valdete Daka announced in a press conference on Thursday.

The KLA was a militant group active in the 1990s that sought the independence of Kosovo from Serbia and Yugoslavia, and the eventual creation of the Greater Albania.

The former Serbian pre-dominantly Muslim province of nearly 1.8 million people is recognized by over 100 countries, including the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Turkey.

Russia and China are among the countries which have not yet recognized Kosovo’s independence.