PRISTINA (Kosovo), December 12 (SeeNews) – Kosovo's prime minister Hashim Thaci has handed over to newly elected prime minister, Isa Mustafa, leader of the conservative Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the prime-minister's office said on Friday.
The new government consists of three deputy ministers - Hashim Thaci from the social democratic party PDK, Kujtim Shala from LDK and Branimir Stojanovic from the Serbian List and 19 ministers.
Eight of the new ministers come from LDK, seven ministers come from PDK and two come from minor coalition parties. Kosovo's minority ethnic Serbs have a deputy prime minister and two ministers.
The parliament of Kosovo voted in a coalition government led by Isa Mustafa on December 9. The cabinet was supported by a total of 73 MPs, 38 MPs voted against and two MPs abstained from voting.
In November, Hashim Thaci, leader of the social democratic party PDK, and Isa Mustafa agreed to create an interparty coalition to form a coalition government.
Kosovo held early general elections at the beginning of June.
A coalition led by Kosovo's ruling Democratic Party won 37 seats in the country’s 120-member parliament, after polling 30.38% of the votes in the snap general election. LDK won 25.24%, giving it 30 seats in parliament, and the ultra-nationalist Movement for Self Determination (VV), which was backed by 13.59% of voters, has 16 representatives.
The centre-right Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) has 11 MPs after securing 9.54% voter support.
Another two political formations - the Serbian List and the Initiative for Kosovo - also crossed the 5.0% threshold for entry into parliament, winning nine and six seats, respectively, with 5.22% and 5.15% of the votes.
Minority parties are exempt from the threshold because a total of 20 MPs' seats are reserved for them.