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Kosovo Lawmakers Dismiss Government


Kosovo lawmakers congratulate each other after the government lost a no-confidence motion during a parliamentary session in Pristina, Kosovo, on Wednesday, May 10, 2017.
Kosovo lawmakers congratulate each other after the government lost a no-confidence motion during a parliamentary session in Pristina, Kosovo, on Wednesday, May 10, 2017.

Lawmakers in Kosovo voted to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa in a no-confidence motion Wednesday, leading to a snap election next month.

Seventy-eight members in the 120-seat parliament voted to dismiss the government after months of political gridlock over a border deal which critics argued would mean less land for the tiny Balkan country.

The opposition more broadly accused the government of failing to deliver on campaign promises and claimed there was diminishing public trust in the government.

"The country is badly governed. The country needs a new government," said Valdete Bajrami of the opposition Initiative for Kosovo party, which proposed the motion.

Mustafa, however, has argued that his government has lowered unemployment and debt, and warned that the the consequence of this vote will be "the country's destabilization through creating a lack of trust in institutions, and an institutional vacuum."

According to the law in Kosovo, elections must be held within 45 days. Mustafa, who's government was slated to run the country for another year, is expected to call the elections by the end of the week.

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