Albin Kurti Government Receives Vote of Confidence in Kosovo

At the session held in the Kosovo Assembly, a vote of confidence was held for the new government.

Albin Kurti, the leader of the Decide Yourself Movement (Vetevendosje) and prime minister candidate, who came first in the early general elections held on June 7 in the country, stated in his speech from the parliamentary rostrum that the priorities of the new government are to increase work in the fields of security, welfare, education, health and infrastructure.

Pointing out that they will not present a new program or agenda due to the frequent repetition of elections, Kurti noted that they aim to place security and welfare in the daily lives of citizens and investments and production at the center of entrepreneurship in the new period.

In the voting, the new government presented by Kurti received a vote of confidence with the support of 62 deputies in the Kosovo Assembly, which has 120 deputies. 8 MPs voted "no" in the voting, 50 MPs did not participate in the voting.

The names of the new cabinet presented remained the same as the previous government cabinet led by Kurti.

In the cabinet, Glauk Konjufca served as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, and Donika Gervalla-Schwarz served as Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice.

Fikrim Damka, Chairman of the Kosovo Democratic Turkish Party (KDTP), became the Third Deputy Prime Minister for Communities and Cooperation.

Other names in Kurti's cabinet were listed as follows:

“Minister of Finance Hekuran Murati, Minister of Labour, Family and Liberation War Values Andin Hoti, Minister of Defense Ejup Maqedonci, Minister of Internal Affairs "Minister of Spatial Planning Fitore Pacolli, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development Armend Muja, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Dimal Basha, Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship, Trade and Innovation Mimoza Kusari-Lila, Minister of Economy Artane Rizvanolli, Minister of Communities and Returns Nenad Rasic, Minister of Regional Development Rasim Demiri"

The session ended after the new cabinet was sworn in.

On the other hand, representatives of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) stated that they would take the election process of the Assembly speaker and his deputies, which paved the way for the vote of the new government, to the Constitutional Court.

The Kosovo Assembly was dissolved on April 29 due to the failure of the deputies to elect the new president within the period stipulated by the constitution, and the early general election was held on June 7, the third general election in the country in the last 18 months.

Vetevendosje will need to be able to compromise with opposition Albanian parties to secure the necessary two-thirds majority in Parliament to elect Kosovo's new president.

Who is Albin Kurti?

Kurti, who was born in the capital Pristina on March 24, 1975, joined the management of the Pristina University Independent Students Union in August 1997 and organized peaceful protests demanding the evacuation of the buildings and facilities of the university occupied by the Serbian regime.

Kurti, who served as the secretary of Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) Political Representative Adem Demaçi during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo, was detained by Serbian police on April 27, 1999.

With the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo, Kurti and over 2 thousand Albanians with him were transferred to prisons in Serbia. As a result of international pressure, Kurti was released on December 7, 2001.

Kurti, a graduate of Pristina University Telecommunications and Computer Engineering, is married and has one child.

Kurti, who has been serving as prime minister since March 22, 2021, held the same position for 4 months in 2020.