Friday, March 10, 2006

Kosovo's Lawmakers Replace Parliament Speaker

PRISTINA (AP)--Kosovo's lawmakers replaced the parliament speaker Friday after the previous leader was dismissed in a political reshuffle.

Kole Berisha replaces Nexhat Daci, who was also part of the team negotiating Kosovo's final status with Serbia.

The 120-seat parliament voted 102-2 with three abstentions in favor of Berisha. The remaining lawmakers were not present.

Daci was forced out as part of a broader reshuffle within the governing coalition last week, which also included the resignation of Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi. But he refused to step down voluntarily, and accused U.S. diplomats in Kosovo of pushing him out.

U.S. officials have denied the accusations.

Berisha is the vice president of the Democratic League of Kosovo, the party which governs the province in coalition with the smaller Alliance for the Future of Kosovo.

Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since 1999, and U.N.-sponsored talks aim to resolve its status by year's end. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority insist on full independence, but Serbs want Belgrade to retain control.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see AP has gotten into the rumour spreading business now. Daci publicly accussed his party's chiefs for wanting to get rid of him and denied that the US was behind this. He believed that the wider party membership was behind him.
It has become popular in the Balkans to blame the US for the tough decisions, whether they are seeked or not by the US.
The fact that Daci's own colleagues voted in his replacement with such an overwhelming majority is a good indirect testament to Daci's plain rude legacy in the parliament.

Anonymous said...

I heard Daci accuse the US on Radio Kosova on Tuesday in his own words, they broadcasted the speech live I think. Furthermore, Goldberg was behind Kosumi and Daci leaving.The word was he went to Kosumi's office and told him to go. This is why Kosumi kept calling his sacking 'Stalinistic' But this has been in the works for a long time.

I think almost everyone got the word the government was going to be sacked at least two days before it happened. I know that's when I got a text while sitting at Gresha over lunch and by dinner we knew who the replacements would be.

Anonymous said...

http://www.rtklive.com/site/news/news_view.php?id=29966

Ndërsa, në pikën e dytë të vendimit theksohet se Kryesia e LDK-së, vendimin e vet për zëvendësimin e Nexhat Dacit, kryetar i Kuvendit të Kosovës me z.Kolë Berisha nënkryetar i LDK-së e ka marrë, "në bazë të informatës së paverifikuar se gjoja kjo është kërkuar nga Uashingtoni dhe Brukseli". "Pas debatit të gjerë në Grupin Parlamentar të LDK-së nuk është pranuar ky argument", u shpreh Gashi.

I didn't hear that program. I would like to see it on paper or online and I'll be more than glad to change my opinion. Even if that was the case, his own colleagues in the parliament voted almost unanimously for his replacement(2 against, 3 abstained). Not everyone can be a politician. Daci should now go to his job in the university and let someone else do the job. There is nothing to be pissed about it.

Anonymous said...

I heard it, go find out what he said in his original speech on Tuesday live and plus I know what happened behind the scenes. The fact is a lot of people did want rid of both Kosumi and Daci and 4 or 5 more ministers as well. Goldberg was right in saying they should leave and getting the party to support that decision (they still work with Haradinaj on the party politics). Kosumi was an idiot in terms of the status talks and not one thing was accomplished during his time in office.

In fact in the speech I remembered him talking about the amount of money the US spends in Kosovo and he felt he had done a good job so why would they want him out?

It may be the right result but democratic it was not.