New Kosovan parliament to convene for first time, elect president

Sun, 20 Feb 2011

Pristina - The new Kosovo parliament is due to meet Monday for the first time since December elections and is expected to immediately elect the country's president.

The caretaker Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, 42, and his Democratic Party (PDK) on Saturday reached an agreement with the head of the New Kosovo Coalition (AKR), Behgjet Pacolli, on a majority coalition.

The deal includes representatives of minority Serb representatives and secures 65 out of the 120 votes in the legislature. In Kosovo ethnic Albanians make up a 90-per-cent majority.

The vote for Pacolli is a greater challenge for the new coalition than the confirmation of the new cabinet.

Pacolli is a millionaire businessman with a company in Switzerland and a history of controversial deals.

The December elections were called early after former president Fatmir Sejdiu resigned because of a row between his Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and PDK. The LDK is now leading the opposition.

Pacolli's controversial past has fueled concern not only in the United States and European Union, but also within Thaci's own party.

If elected, Pacolli could be subject to "carefully placed" leaks on murky deals his Mabetex construction company made in Russia during the Boris Yeltsin era, Western diplomats in Pristina say.

But, despite warnings from the West that the new administration should consist only of people with unblemished past, Thaci himself has come under severe criticism in a Council of Europe report, where he was branded a head of organized crime in Kosovo.

The former Serbian province declared independence from Serbia three years ago. Belgrade continues to insist that the secession was illegal, but Kosovo was meanwhile recognized by more than 70 countries, including the major Western powers.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/368283,convene-time-elect-president.html.