(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-05 20:23

BELGRADE - The new Kosovo parliament was constituted in the provincial capital Pristina on Friday, while the election of the parliament speaker and the new government was postponed to next week.

The parliament of Kosovo sits for the first time in Pristina since last November's election, January 4, 2008. [Agencies]

The mandates of the 120 lawmakers elected at the November elections were verified in the first session of the new parliament, said reports reaching here from Kosovo.

However, the parliament could not elect its speaker and the new government, because the two leading Kosovo Albanian parties - the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) of incumbent President Fatmir Sejdiu - failed to finalize a power-sharing agreement.

The premier-designate, PDK leader Hashim Thaci, said the agreement would be reached on January 9, when the parliament will elect its speaker and the new government.

Kosovo's parliamentary elections on November 17 were won by the PDK, which secured 37 seats but it has to form a coalition government with the second largest party LDK, which holds 25 seats. According to the Constitutional Framework and the parliament's standing orders, the PDK is expected to nominate the parliament speaker.

Kosovo has been run by the UN mission since 1999 when NATO bombing forced the pullout of Serbian forces fighting against insurgent ethnic Albanians who are in the majority in the southern Serbian province.

Following failed talks between Belgrade and Pristina on the future status of the province, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders have pledged they would unilaterally proclaim independence in early 2008, but no move is likely to take place before presidential elections in Serbia set for January 20.

Kosovo's proclamation of independence is likely to be recognized by the United States and a number of European countries, but Serbia and its ally Russia said they would oppose any such move.

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