Links
Kosovo government falls
Kosovo will hold early polls on December 12, the country's acting president said Tuesday, minutes after parliament backed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's cabinet.
The motion was supported by 64 of the 120 legislators. It was submitted weeks after Thaci's coalition fell apart, plunging Kosovo - which is also without a president - into a political crisis.
Even representatives from Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) voted in favor of the no-confidence motion, saying they wanted to end the political impasse triggered by the PDK's junior partner, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).
The acting head of state, parliamentary speaker Jakup Krasniqi, immediately dissolved the assembly and scheduled the early elections.
The alliance between the PDK and the LDK disintegrated on October 16 amid wrangling over the vacant post of president and the privatization of the telecommunications company PTK.