\n Kosovo's government collapsed Wednesday after it lost a confidence vote in parliament, a move expected to trigger a snap election after more than a year of political crisis in the tiny Balkan country.\n<\/p>\n
\n The ruling coalition had long been strained by growing discord between its two main parties, President Hashim Thaci's centre-right PDK and the conservative LDK of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n Of those present, 78 deputies in the 120-member parliament backed the no confidence motion while 34 were against it, speaker Kadri Veseli said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The main trigger for the vote was a border demarcation deal with neighbouring Montenegro, the final condition for obtaining visa-free travel in the European Union.\n<\/p>\n
\n Three opposition parties strongly oppose the move, alleging that the deal deprives Kosovo of several thousand hectares of land.\n<\/p>\n
\n Since the signing of the deal, the main opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party has organised violent street demonstrations and fired tear gas in parliament to prevent the text from being examined.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kosovo's political crisis has also been fuelled by another agreement, reached with former foe Serbia in mid-2015, that envisages political autonomy for the Serb minority.\n<\/p>\n
\n The opposition also fiercely opposes this deal.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'No more heroes' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Thaci's PDK eventually supported the rest of the opposition to push for a snap parliamentary vote, before the scheduled date next year.\n<\/p>\n
\n The AAK party of former rebel leader and ex-premier Ramush Haradinaj has also long called for elections.\n<\/p>\n
\n Haradinaj returned to Kosovo last month after being blocked for five months in France, where has rejected a request for his extradition to Serbia over alleged war crimes during the late 1990s Kosovo war.\n<\/p>\n
\n The episode could revive his popularity.\n<\/p>\n
\n Western analysts says the PDK backing for a snap vote could reflect its desire to strengthen its popular legitimacy through electoral success, in view of progress at a new special tribunal at The Hague set up to try former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) for alleged war crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Thaci, a PDK founder and its longtime leader, figures among several former guerrillas cited as potential indictees.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"There are indications that people who are regarded as Kosovo heroes may soon become the opposite,\" LDK deputy Arben Gashi told the lawmakers during Wednesday's debate, referring to the tribunal.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 1998-1999 conflict between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb forces sent by Slobodan Milosevic, was the last of the wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.\n<\/p>\n
\n Of the 13,000 killed in Kosovo's conflict some 10,000 were ethnic Albanians.\n<\/p>\n
\n The war ended after a NATO bombing campaign against Serbia, which led to the withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo.\n<\/p>\n
\n The territory was then put under the protection of NATO and international forces.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kosovo, home to around 1.8 people who are mostly ethnic Albanians, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008.\n<\/p>\n
\n The move is now recognised by more than 110 countries. But Serbia, supported by its traditional ally Russia, still rejects it.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 2011 Belgrade and Pristina began EU-brokered talks to improve their relations, but they remain tense.\n<\/p>\n
\n And the 100,000 to 150,000 Serbs who still live in the former province continue to consider themselves as citizens of Serbia, refusing to recognise Kosovo.\n<\/p>\n
\n ih-mat\/ljv\/txw\n<\/p>\n
\n Aarhus Karlshamn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kosovo's government collapsed Wednesday after it lost a confidence vote in parliament, a move expected to trigger a snap election after more than a year of political crisis in the tiny Balkan country. The ruling coalition had long been strained by growing discord between its two main parties, President Hashim Thaci's centre-right PDK and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-33276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n