The government of Kosovo fell on Wednesday after members of parliament backed a no-confidence motion, paving the way for a snap legislative election next month.

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa failed to win the confidence of 78 out of the body's 120 MPs, marking an end to the coalition of his Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and President Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party (PDK).

The no-confidence motion was launched by the opposition, which had accused the government of failing to meet its campaign pledges and creating public distrust. The motion was also supported by the PDK.

READ MORE: Serbian election campaign leads to tension in Kosovo

Following the vote, Thaci dissolved parliament. According to the constitution, an election must be held within 45 days.

In a speech to the parliament in Pristina ahead of the vote, Mustafa said his government had done a good job in tackling unemployment and maintaining low public debt.

"In my government, there are no corrupt people," he said.

However, in the past 18 months, the work of parliament has been interrupted by incidents including street riots, opposition deputies throwing tear gas and firing of a rocket-propelled grenade at the building.

Valdete Bajrami, from the opposition party NISMA which initiated the motion, told parliament: "Our country needs a new direction."

Political crisis

The coalition had been deadlocked for months, unable to pass crucial regulation on matters such as a border agreement with Montenegro, minority rights and even the armed forces.

The border agreement was a condition the European Union placed on Kosovo in order to lift entry visa requirements for its citizens. A new election is expected to further postpone the adoption of a demarcation deal with Montenegro.

Kosovo also has yet to regulate the status of minority Serb communities in the mostly Albanian Kosovo, part of a normalisation agreement the EU brokered between Pristina and Belgrade.

For Serbia, keeping to the provisions of the normalisation agreement is a condition for negotiating EU accession and eventually joining the EU.

Kosovo is a former province of Serbia that declared independence in 2008, nine years after NATO intervened against Serbia in order to stop a heavy-handed crackdown on ethnic Albanian rebels.

It has been recognised by more than 110 countries in the meantime, but not gained a seat at the United Nations, owing to Russia - which has backed Serbia's opposition to the move.</s>PRISTINA, May 10 (Reuters) - Kosovo lawmakers voted on Wednesday to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa in a no-confidence motion, a move that will trigger a snap election next month.

Seventy-eight MPs in the 120-seat parliament voted to dismiss the cabinet, which the opposition had accused of failing to meet its campaign pledges and creating public distrust.

In a speech to the parliament ahead of the vote, Mustafa said his government has done a good job in tackling unemployment and maintaining a low public debt.

"In my government there are no corrupt people," he said.

However, in the past 18 months, the work of parliament has been interrupted by incidents including street riots, opposition deputies throwing teargas and firing of a rocket-propelled grenade at the building.

Valdete Bajrami, from the opposition party NISMA who initiated the motion, told parliament: "Our country needs a new direction."

The 78 lawmakers who voted out the government included the biggest party in the governing coalition, but not the prime minister's own party.

With no party willing to try to assemble a new parliamentary majority to form a new government, an election will have to be held in June according to the constitution.

A new election will further postpone the adoption of a demarcation deal with Montenegro, key for the European Union to lift its requirement of needing a visa to travel to Kosovo.

Kosovo broke with Serbia in 1999 after a NATO bombing campaign halted a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" directed against ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces trying to stamp out a two-year insurgency and declared independence in 2008.

It has been recognised by more than 100 countries, including Western powers, but not by Serbia and its big-power ally Russia or several EU members such as Spain. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Alison Williams)</s>Lawmakers in Kosovo voted to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa in a no-confidence motion Wednesday, leading to a snap election next month.

Seventy-eight members in the 120-seat parliament voted to dismiss the government after months of political gridlock over a border deal which critics argued would mean less land for the tiny Balkan country.

The opposition more broadly accused the government of failing to deliver on campaign promises and claimed there was diminishing public trust in the government.

"The country is badly governed. The country needs a new government," said Valdete Bajrami of the opposition Initiative for Kosovo party, which proposed the motion.

Mustafa, however, has argued that his government has lowered unemployment and debt, and warned that the the consequence of this vote will be "the country's destabilization through creating a lack of trust in institutions, and an institutional vacuum."

According to the law in Kosovo, elections must be held within 45 days. Mustafa, who's government was slated to run the country for another year, is expected to call the elections by the end of the week.</s>Kosovo's government collapsed after a no-confidence motion in parliament on May 10, which means a snap election will be held after more than a year of political crisis in the Balkan country.

Some 78 out of the parliament's 120 members voted against Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's cabinet, marking an end to the coalition of Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and President Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party (PDK).

The ruling coalition had been strained by growing discord between the two parties.

The no-confidence motion was launched by the opposition but supported by the PDK.

Under the constitution, fresh elections have to be held within 45 days, and the president is expected to call them by the end of the week.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. It is recognized by 114 countries, but not by Serbia.

Based on reporting by DPA, AP, AFP, and Reuters</s>PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - The Latest on the no-confidence vote on Kosovo's government (all times local):

Kosovo's president has formally dissolved the country's parliament after lawmakers voted no-confidence in Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's coalition government.

President Hashim Thaci issued a decree dissolving the parliament on Wednesday just hours after the government lost the no-confidence vote in a 78-34 vote.

The move means the Balkan country is likely to have a parliamentary election about a year before one was scheduled to take place.

Thaci is expected to set an election date within 30-45 days.

The speaker of Kosovo's parliament is supporting the collapse of the country's Cabinet in which his political party was a partner.

Kadri Veseli posted a tweet after the government lost a no-confidence vote on Wednesday that the country needs a new beginning.

Veseli says the 78-34 vote "is needed for Kosovo to open exciting new chapters of our history."

The vote sets the scene for an early election, about a year before it was due. The president is expected to set an election date within 30-45 days.

It also revealed disagreements between Veseli's Democratic Party of Kosovo and Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo.

Each currently holds 69 seats in the 120-member parliament.

Kosovo's government has lost a no-confidence vote, setting up the possibility of an early election.

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's government lost in a 78-34 vote Wednesday, with three abstentions. Opposition parties had blamed his Cabinet for being unable to carry out its program and pass important laws.

The government had been hobbled by its inability to secure a majority in parliament over a border demarcation deal with neighboring Montenegro, despite pressure from the U.S. government.

The government hasn't had enough lawmakers to pass the deal, which was signed in 2015, and Mustafa withdrew the draft bill last year. The opposition has claimed that Kosovo would lose territory under the deal, an accusation denied by the government and local and international experts.</s>Kosovo's government collapsed Wednesday after losing a no-confidence vote, setting the scene for an early election following months of political deadlock over a border demarcation deal that critics say would mean a loss of territory for the tiny Balkan country.

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's coalition government lost in a 78-34 vote, with three abstentions and five lawmakers not present. The outcome means that the government has fallen about a year before an election was due. The president is now expected to set an election date within 30 to 45 days.

Opposition parties have blamed his Cabinet for being unable to carry out its program and pass important laws.

"The country is badly governed. The country needs a new government," said Valdete Bajrami of the opposition Initiative for Kosovo party, which proposed the motion.

The government had been hobbled by its inability to secure a majority in parliament over a border demarcation deal with neighboring Montenegro, despite pressure from the U.S. government. The government hasn't had enough lawmakers to pass the deal, which was signed in 2015, and Mustafa withdrew the draft bill last year. The opposition has claimed that Kosovo would lose territory under the deal, an accusation denied by the government and local and international experts.

Mustafa considered the no-confidence motion as a "political pamphlet without any argumentative basis," adding its consequence will be "the country's destabilization through creating a lack of trust in institutions, and an institutional vacuum."

The 2 ?-year governing coalition is made up of Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo, which has the second-biggest number of seats in the 120-seat parliament, and the Democratic Party of Kosovo of parliamentary Speaker Kadri Veseli, which is the biggest.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. It is recognized by 114 countries, but not by Serbia.</s>Yet another government in Kosovo has fallen before its mandate should have ended after MPs backed a no-confidence vote in the administration.

Isa Mustafa’s government in Kosovo was defeated on Wednesday after MPs backed an opposition motion of no-confidence.

Of 120 MPs in parliament, 78 voted for the motion, with only 34 backing the current government.

Along with the opposition Vetevendosje party, MPs from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and NISMA, and some deputies from the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, also voted against the government.

Mustafa’s government became the third in Kosovo in a row to fall without completing its four-year term.

Made up of the PDK and Mustafa’s own Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, it has undergone a torrid time as both the EU and US pushed it to take tough decisions on key issues that have been pushed under the carpet for years.

The opposition has been demanding elections for two years, mainly because of the controversial agreements that the government signed in Brussels in 2015 on border demarcation with Montenegro – that is still to be voted on in parliament – and on establishing an autonomous Association of Serb-majority Municipalities.

The ruling coalition has faced bitter opposition both outside and within institutions over both of these issues.

Opposition MPs have even resorted to using teargas in parliament to disrupt matters.

However, the government has been under strong international pressure to get moving with the border deal with Montenegro in particular.

The EU says it cannot proceed with visa liberalisation for Kosovo – an importance issue for the country – until the border issue with Montenegro is laid to rest.

Opposition parties insist the deal threatens to rob Kosovo of valuable pasture and farmland.

Kosovo’s two ruling parties, the PDK and LDK, have a history of bumpy relations. They established a coalition government in 2007, which oversaw Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in February 2008.

That coalition fell apart in 2010, when LDK leader Fatmir Sejdiu was forced to resign as President of Kosovo after the Constitutional Court ruled that keeping that post along with his party leadership contradicted the constitution.

On being elected President in 2008, Sejdiu had frozen his party duties but the Constitutional Court ruled that this was not enough.

Sejdiu’s resignation as President then prompted the withdrawal of the LDK from the government.

Subsequent elections resulted in a new coalition between the PDK led by Hashim Thaçi and Behgjet Pacolli’s Kosovo New Alliance, AKR, which governed until spring 2014.

That May, six months before his regular term as Prime Minister was due to end, Thaçi decided on snap elections.

The decision to dissolve parliament came after MPs failed to resolve two key issues: transformation of the lightly armed Kosovo Security Forces into a regular army and the reservation of seats for non-Albanian communities in parliament.

While other political groups backed the initiative, the opposition Vetevendosje party objected. Its leader, Albin Kurti, said Thaçi should have resigned as PM for failing to fulfil his key promises.

“He promised an army for Kosovo and has not realised the promise… so he must resign. If he does not resign, the opposition should dissolve the government. We should not allow the government to dissolve the parliament,” Kurti said in the parliament.

Sociologist Artan Muhaxhiri told BIRN that politics in Kosovo was suffering serious structural deformations.

“One of the main reasons for this is the personalisation of the processes of making and breaking coalitions by party leaders,” he said.

“Lack of internal democracy and decision-making … have deprived government coalitions of consistency and of a regular spirit of cooperation,” Muhaxhiri added.

The current political system was not sustainable, he continued. “In Kosovo governments, budgets and the subsequent success of ministers are not achieved on the basis of merit but on the basis of the affiliations of the leader and clans around him,” Muhaxhiri said.

“Normalisation of the political spectrum can be achieved only through radical changes in the political mentality of the decision-making political personalities, which could take years,” Muhaxhiri said adding that it would also require more active engagement from ordinary citizens.

Petrit Zogaj, director of the Pristina-based monitoring organisation FOL [Speak-Up], told BIRN that building a democratic culture in Kosovo needs to “go beyond the constitution and paragraphs of law.

“On paper, we have the basic rules on how institutions should function, but in order to respect those rules, we need a better democratic culture,” Zogaj said.

“Due to the lack of a democratic culture and tradition, Kosovo is on the verge of creating another culture in which institutions cannot complete their regular constitutional mandates,” he added.

According to Zogaj, the political scene needs to see a new system in which coalitions are formed on the basis of ideology.

“Over the years, almost all the political parties, except Vetevendosje, have been in government coalitions. This has created a sense of complicity,” he concluded.</s>PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Kosovo's government has lost a no-confidence vote, setting up the possibility of an early election.

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's government lost in a 78-34 vote Wednesday, with three abstentions. Opposition parties had blamed his Cabinet for being unable to carry out its program and pass important laws.

The government had been hobbled by its inability to secure a majority in parliament over a border demarcation deal with neighboring Montenegro, despite pressure from the U.S. government.

The government hasn't had enough lawmakers to pass the deal, which was signed in 2015, and Mustafa withdrew the draft bill last year. The opposition has claimed that Kosovo would lose territory under the deal, an accusation denied by the government and local and international experts.</s>PRISTINA, Kosovo — The Latest on the no-confidence vote on Kosovo's government (all times local):

President Hashim Thaci issued a decree dissolving the parliament on Wednesday just hours after the government lost the no-confidence vote in a 78-34 vote.

The move means the Balkan country is likely to have a parliamentary election about a year before one was scheduled to take place.

The speaker of Kosovo's parliament is supporting the collapse of the country's Cabinet in which his political party was a partner.

Kadri Veseli posted a tweet after the government lost a no-confidence vote on Wednesday that the country needs a new beginning.

Veseli says the 78-34 vote "is needed for Kosovo to open exciting new chapters of our history."

The vote sets the scene for an early election, about a year before it was due. The president is expected to set an election date within 30-45 days.

It also revealed disagreements between Veseli's Democratic Party of Kosovo and Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo.

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's government lost in a 78-34 vote Wednesday, with three abstentions. Opposition parties had blamed his Cabinet for being unable to carry out its program and pass important laws.

The government had been hobbled by its inability to secure a majority in parliament over a border demarcation deal with Montenegro, despite pressure from the U.S. government.

The government hasn't had enough lawmakers to pass the deal, which was signed in 2015, and Mustafa withdrew the draft bill last year. The opposition has claimed that Kosovo would lose territory under the deal, an accusation denied by the government and local and international experts.</s>The Latest on the no-confidence vote on Kosovo's government (all times local):

The U.S. embassy in Pristina has called on Kosovo's outgoing Cabinet to continue to "to serve Kosovo's citizens - all of them - who are their employers."

A statement issued Wednesday assured Kosovo that the U.S. will "continue in our steadfast support for Kosovo, its citizens, and its path to full Euro-Atlantic integration."

Washington has continuously pressed Kosovo to pass a border demarcation deal with neighboring Montenegro which remains the last obstacle before the European Union accepts to let Kosovar citizens travel visa-free in its Schengen member countries.

Kosovo's government failed a no-confidence vote, and an election is expected within 45 days.

Kosovo's president has invited leaders of the political parties to join in consultation on the date for the parliamentary election.

Hashim Thaci on Wednesday sent letters of invitation proposing to start talks the next day.

Kosovo's government failed a no-confidence vote, setting the scene for an early election.

Thaci dissolved the parliament and is now expected to set a date for a parliamentary election within 30 to 45 days.

The speaker of Kosovo's parliament is blaming Prime Minister Isa Mustafa for the no-confidence vote that has resulted in the failure of the country's governing coalition.

The political party that Speaker Kadri Veseli leads, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, was coalition partners with Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo.

Veseli posted a video message on Wednesday informally launching a parliamentary election campaign less than two hours after lawmakers expressed no-confidence in the existing government.

He accused the prime minister of "not taking the country ahead with the proper rhythm."

The debate before the vote clearly showed the two governing partners were not getting along.

Veseli also spoke negatively of opposition parties and said voters should support the Democratic League to give the country "a new beginning."

Kosovo's president has formally dissolved the country's parliament after lawmakers voted no-confidence in Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's coalition government.

President Hashim Thaci issued a decree dissolving the parliament on Wednesday just hours after the government lost the no-confidence vote in a 78-34 vote.

The move means the Balkan country is likely to have a parliamentary election about a year before one was scheduled to take place.

Thaci is expected to set an election date within 30-45 days.

The speaker of Kosovo's parliament is supporting the collapse of the country's Cabinet in which his political party was a partner.

Kadri Veseli posted a tweet after the government lost a no-confidence vote on Wednesday that the country needs a new beginning.

Veseli says the 78-34 vote "is needed for Kosovo to open exciting new chapters of our history."

The vote sets the scene for an early election, about a year before it was due. The president is expected to set an election date within 30-45 days.

It also revealed disagreements between Veseli's Democratic Party of Kosovo and Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo.

Each currently holds 69 seats in the 120-member parliament.

Kosovo's government has lost a no-confidence vote, setting up the possibility of an early election.

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's government lost in a 78-34 vote Wednesday, with three abstentions. Opposition parties had blamed his Cabinet for being unable to carry out its program and pass important laws.

The government had been hobbled by its inability to secure a majority in parliament over a border demarcation deal with neighboring Montenegro, despite pressure from the U.S. government.

The government hasn't had enough lawmakers to pass the deal, which was signed in 2015, and Mustafa withdrew the draft bill last year. The opposition has claimed that Kosovo would lose territory under the deal, an accusation denied by the government and local and international experts.
Lawmakers in the Parliament Assembly of Kosovo vote in a no-confidence motion to remove the government of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa from office, triggering a snap election that is due to take place next month.