Kosovo President fails political compromise for new Cabinet

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Kosovo’s president has failed to secure a compromise among political parties to create a new government.

His ethnic Albanian bloc of former independence war leaders holds 39 seats in the 120-seat parliament, the largest single group following a June 11 popular vote. To form a cabinet, it must muster a coalition with other political parties, or persuade individual lawmakers to support it.

Hashim Thaci’s consultative meeting on Monday was not attended by the other main players: the nationalist Movement for Self-determination, as well as a coalition led by former Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and the main ethnic Serb minority party. All boycotted the meeting, saying the president was favouring his former comrades-at-arms.

Thaci decreed that parliament was to convene on Aug. 3. Kosovo declared unilateral independence from Serbia in 2008.