Kosovo

With the last votes from the general election yet to be counted, the political parties are still squabbling over who has the right to form a new government in Kosovo.

Kosovo police have launched a probe into the murder of Elvis Pista, a prospective MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, who was shot dead in his hometown of Rahovec/Orahovac.

The UN refugee agency called on the authorities to ensure that people who fled Kosovo during the 1998-99 war have places to live and security if they choose to return home.

Dysfunctional governments in Balkan countries continue to drive down democracy ratings in the region, according to Freedom Houses’s latest study, ‘Nations in Transit 2014’.

If Kosovo is serious about its European future, whoever forms the next government faces a big job to improve its justice system and human rights record.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and his main rival, Ramush Haradinaj, remain in deadock over who has the right to form a new government following inconclusive general elections.

Serbian experts will examine the site of another suspected mass grave near the town of Raska, where the bodies of 37 Kosovo Albanians killed during wartime have already been found.

With elections approaching on Sunday, authorities in Pristina have increased measures in order to prevent poll fraud.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo claimed victory in parliamentary polls to secure a third term in office despite a low turnout at Sunday’s vote.

Polling stations closed on Sunday evening across Kosovo in an election whose outcome remains hard to call owing to the tight competition between the main parties.