21 November 2009 / REUTERS, PRISTINA
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s party said on Friday it would not part ways with its junior coalition partner after all, despite a quarrel stemming from this week’s local elections.
The Balkan country held its first local elections on Sunday after declaring independence last year and observers said the vote met most international standards but had some shortcomings. With mixed results in the first round and a second round scheduled in 20 out of 36 towns next month, domestic political tensions have grown, and early on Friday Thaci’s party told his junior partner, the Democratic League of Kosovo (DLK), he would form a new coalition with two other parties. Hours later they apparently made up and Thaci’s party said the divorce was off. “The central coalition partnership remains consolidated, functional and pristine,” a statement from Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo said. The party said the coalition would continue until national elections expected in 2011.
