Voting begins in Kosovo parliamentary election

Serbian President2

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić

Voting began on Sunday in Kosovo’s parliamentary election, the fourth held ahead of the regular date since 2010 and another which is unlikely to produce a stable government.

The last time the former Serbian province with a majority Albanian population elected parliament after its full term was in 2007.

The election was this time triggered by the resignation of outgoing Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj in July, over a subpoena to testify on war crimes at a new international tribunal.

In the run for the 120 seats in parliament are 20 parties, four coalitions and a single independent candidate; the combined tickets comprise 1,060 names.

The three largest parties – the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), President Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and Vetevendosje (Self-determination) – are all running alone.

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The other two major parties stemming from the ethnic Albanian community are grouped in two coalitions: one lined up behind Haradinaj’s Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and the New Alliance for Kosovo (AKR).

One hundred of the 120 seats in parliament are up for grabs, and the remaining 20 are reserved for ethnic communities, including the restive Kosovo Serbs, who have half of those seats.

There are 1,937,869 registered voters, which is more than the nation’s population, which stood at 1.83 million in 2017.

The difference can only partially be explained by the large Kosovo Albanian ex-patriate community. It also hints at a poorly maintained voter register, which the opposition says leaves the door open to manipulation, the dpa reported.

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