Kosovan President Hashim Thaci gave a mandate to Ramush Haradinaj, from the winning PAN coalition, to form a new government on September 7.

This will end the political deadlock following the inconclusive June election. A parliamentary majority was finally formed after the three parties in Kosovo’s PAN coalition led by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) signed a deal with the liberal New Kosovo Alliance to form a new cabinet on September 4. 

The deal was signed after the leader of the New Kosovo Alliance, Behgjet Pacolli, confirmed that the party’s pre-election coalition deal with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) had broken down, paving the way for an alliance with PAN. 

“Today I gave the mandate to Haradinaj to form the new Kosovan government which has established the needed parliamentary majority,” Thaci said in a tweet.

According to broadcaster RTK, the parliament is expected to vote on the new government on September 9.

The mandate was given to Haradinaj after the parliament in Pristina reelected PDK leader Kadri Veseli as speaker on September 7, with 62 votes in favour and 52 against, the parliament said. Lawmakers also elected three vice presidents of the assembly.

“Together we can turn the Kosovo Assembly from the place of personal interest to place of cooperation, from place of accusations to forums of ideas and laws,” Veseli said to MPs.

Veseli added that the parliament should focus on issues of strategic interest of the country, to restore the trust in institutions as well as to improve the quality of life of Kosovan citizens.

The PAN coalition — made up of three parties led by former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders — took the largest share of the vote in the June election, but did not gain enough seats in the parliament to form a government alone.

The PAN coalition was formed ahead of the election which took place days before the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers, set up to try former KLA fighters, became operational. Its main rival was seen the LAA coalition led by Prime Minister Isa Mustafa’s Democratic League of Kosovo, which had advocated peaceful resistance against Serbian oppression, resulting in an election dubbed the “guns” against the “roses”. 

Haradinaj is a controversial politician due to his wartime history and his hardline stance on relations with Serbia. 

He was detained in Basel on a Serbian war crimes warrant at the beginning of this year. Belgrade wanted the politician tried for war crimes committed in Kosovo in 1999, but the Court of Appeals in the French town of Colmar ruled in April that he would not be extradited to Serbia. 

Haradinaj, who denied all the allegations, was previously cleared of war crimes charges in two trials by a UN war crimes tribunal in 2008 and 2012. After his arrest, his lawyers argued that he had already been tried and acquitted by the Hague Tribunal for the same crimes.

He returned to Pristina to a hero’s welcome, which probably contributed to the decision to choose him as PAN’s nominee for prime minister.