Legislative Election in Kosovo (2014)

There are 120 seats in the Kosovo Assembly , of which 10 are reserved for representatives of the Serbian national minority, 10 more are for deputies of the remaining national minorities ^[3] : four are Gypsies, Ashkali and Gupts, three are Bosnians, two are Turks, one place is Gorans ^[4] , the remaining 100 deputies are elected by the proportional system. After the formation of the Assembly, the deputies will elect a new Prime Minister and President of Kosovo ^[5] .

On May 7, 2014, 90 out of 115 deputies of the Assembly voted “for” self-dissolution ^[6] due to the fact that representatives of Serbian parties rejected the vote on the draft law on the creation of the Kosovo army ^{[7] [8]} , and according to the Constitution, the adoption of laws is impossible without consent representatives of national minorities ^[9] . After that , Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thachi said that there was no sense in the existence of a parliament that could not decide the fate of its own army ^[10] , saying that new elections would be held on June 8 ^[11] . Later, this date was announced by President Atifete Yahyaga ^[12] .

On June 6, in the city of Gracanica in Serbia, at a pre-election rally of the pro-government Civil List party, Minister of Defense Bratislav Gashic stated that we did not recognize Kosovo’s independence, but citizens should vote for candidates from the Serb minority “for the well-being of Serbia, our people, survival and our future children ” ^[13] . In a statement, the European Union’s foreign service said that these “first elections after the successful conclusion of negotiations on the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the EU and Kosovo” will be free, fair and comprehensive throughout the territory of the region:

Voting began on June 8 at 07:00 (09:00 Moscow time) in 798 polling centers, which have 2,374 polling stations. In the first four hours, 9.46% of voters voted ^[15] . You can vote for 30 parties, coalitions and groups of citizens, with more than a thousand candidates. Parties need to get 5% of the vote in order to get into the Assembly, and 7% in coalitions. 1 million 782 thousand people have the right to vote ^[16] . Elections were first held throughout the territory, including areas dominated by the Serbian population. Voting in the predominantly Serbian north of Kosovo is organized by the OSCE Mission ^[17] . About three thousand observers monitored the elections. Security was provided by the Kosovo police, the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), and NATO-led International Security Forces responsible for stability in Kosovo (KFOR). ^[18] . Observers from the local NGO Democracy in Action reported 36 cases of political advertising at polling stations, 28 cases of unauthorized persons present, and deficiencies in voter checks to prevent them from re-voting ^[19] .

According to the CEC, the voter turnout at 11:00 (13:00 Moscow time) was 9.87% (169,932 people out of 1,782,454 registered voters). In particular, in Kosovo Mitrovica, where ethnic Serbs live, 830 out of 26,832 registered voters voted. 143 thousand ethnic Serbs have the right to vote in Kosovo ^[20] .

Polling stations closed at 19:00 (21:00 Moscow time), after which the counting of votes began ^[21] .

According to exit polls, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, led by Prime Minister Hashim Thachi, immediately pulled ahead. After processing 15% of the ballots from 2 thousand 374 polling stations, the KDP gained 30% of the vote, the Democratic Union of Kosovo, headed by Isa Mustafa - 24% of the vote, the party "Self-determination" - 9% ^[22] . Seven cases of violations during the voting were recorded, 10 people were detained. The turnout in the elections at that time amounted to 43.17% ^[21] , in municipalities with a predominantly Serbian population - about 33%. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thachi announced the victory of his Democratic Party, which, after calculating the majority of the votes, won - 31%, and the Democratic League of Kosovo - 26% of the vote. Thus, Tachi can form a coalition government for the third time ^[23] .

After counting 94.14% of ballots, KDP gained 31.14%, DLK - 26.15%, Self-determination - 13.74%, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo - 9.67%, “Initiative for Kosovo” - 5.37%, “New Kosovo Alliance” - 4.73%, “Serbian List” - 2.92%, road accident Turk - 1.02% ^[24] .

After counting 99.62% of the ballots, the DRC has 30.72% of the vote, DSC - 25.72%, “Self-determination” - 13.51%, “Alliance for the Future of Kosovo” - 9.58%, “Initiative for Kosovo” - 5.24% ^[25] . Later, the three losers of the party agreed to form a coalition without a winner, namely the Kosovo Democratic Union led by Isa Mustafa, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, led by Ramush Haradina , former person involved in the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia , and the Kosovo Initiative during led by the former Minister of Transport Fatmir Limay . According to some reports, it was Kharadinay, the former Prime Minister of Kosovo and the former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, who could become the new Prime Minister, since the victorious DRC had no partners for the formation of a coalition government, since the other parties refused to cooperate with it. The coalition was also supported by the Self-Determination movement ^[26] . On June 10, the coalition issued a statement stating that the parties had reached a compromise on the candidacy of the new prime minister, which will be Ramush Haradinai, Mustafa will be appointed speaker of the parliament, and Limay - deputy prime minister. The official election results have not yet been announced, but it is known that the coalition expects to occupy 69 seats in parliament, as a result of which the DRC will have to go into the opposition ^[27] .

• European Union:

On June 9, Catherine Ashton , High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy , said:

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