Kosovo’s president nominates premier

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s president on Monday nominated Albin Kurti as the next prime minister, more than three months after parliamentary polls in which no party won a governing majority.

President Hashim Thaci issued a decree to nominate Kurti, leader of the left-wing Self-Determination Movement, or Vetevendosje, which came in first in the Oct. 6 snap election.

Thaci also noted in the decree that Kurti has 15 days to create the new Cabinet before it is approved by the parliament.

Vetevendosje won 29 of the 120 seats in Kosovo’s parliament and is in a coalition with the center-right Democratic League of Kosovo, which won one fewer seat.

The coalition talks have stalled over disagreements on who will be appointed Kosovo’s new president after Thaci’s mandate expires in 2021. The Democratic League of Kosovo is also claiming the post of speaker, already taken by Vetevendosje at the parliament’s first session in December.

Kurti said that Vetevendosje and the Democratic League of Kosovo still disagree, but they are ready to hold “further talks to find an alternative acceptable for both parties.”

“We are obliged in front of all of you [the people] to return to the table of negotiations and not leave it until we find joint language and reach an agreement,” he said in a video message on Facebook.

To avoid a minority government, Kurti will also need the support of smaller parties.

The new Cabinet will need to include a representative of the ethnic Serb minority, according to Kosovo’s Constitution.

Kosovo gained independence after a NATO bombing campaign that followed a bloody Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and it is recognized by more than 100 countries, but not by Serbia.