Kosovo parties agree on continued collaboration

13/02/2013

Kosovo opposition party AAK promised to support the government on key issues.

By Linda Karadaku for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 13/02/13

The main Kosovo parties will continue working together on important state issues. [AFP]

Despite the failure to form a new coalition government between the Kosovo ruling Democratic Party (PDK) and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), the AAK said it will continue to support the government in issues of state interest, including the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia and relations normalisation between the two countries, the electoral system reform and EU integration.

"As an opposition party, AAK will use all political mechanisms to improve the lives of Kosovo citizens and ensure long-term political and economic stability of Kosovo," the party said in a statement.

Experts said an early election is unlikely despite the fact the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party does not have a parliamentary majority.

The coalition has 56 MPs in parliament, five less than the 61 needed to pass laws.

"The parliamentary practice in the last few months has shown members of the ... opposition, like the AAK, are keeping the Kosovo government standing," Driton Selmanaj, programme manager at the Kosovo Democratic Institute, said.

In the majority of cases, laws are being approved with the support of some opposition MPs, which is a sign of strength of the government policies, Petrit Selimi, deputy foreign minister and member of the PDK General Council, told SETimes.

"One should also remember that in democracies, governments frequently govern without having over 50 percent of the votes all the time, as it is currently the case with US [and] many EU governments," he said.

Ahmet Isufi, AAK deputy chairman, told SETimes his party would continue as an opposition party.

"We will ask for the electoral reform be finalised to enable free and fair elections, because the current electoral law does not guarantee that," Isufi said.

Though AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj told the media that the failure to form a coalition with the PDK was "a lost chance," he added that "we continue to work on issues at hand, hoping that this chance [to lead the government] will present itself at the elections. So, we continue to function as a political party, until the citizens decide how to continue the leadership of the country."

Safete Hadergjonaj, member of PDK's leading council, told SETimes the two parties disagreed on the issue of who was to be prime minister. "But we continue working together. We will continue with collaboration with AAK," Hadergjonaj said.

She said she is optimistic.

"We'll work on having good relations with all parties for the interest of the state and the EU integration.

We have support of other political parties as well, except from Vetevendosje," Hadergjonaj told SETimes.

Kosovo's opposition Vetvendosje called for a motion of no confidence in the current government that would pave the way to an early election if accepted.

"Even if this scenario comes about, early elections will not make any qualitative changes, because there is no competition with new [party] programmes, but competition just for power," Belul Bekaj, Pristina University political science professor, told SETimes.

SETimes correspondent Muhamet Brajshori in Pristina contributed to this report.

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.