Koha Ditore reports on the front page that on Tuesday, MPs of the ruling coalition were under the pressure of Behxhet Pacolli’s wish to become President and Hashim Thaçi’s desire to remain head of government for another four-year mandate.

The paper notes that the process of their elections left a bitter taste not only to the opposition which boycotted the voting session, but also with MPs of the biggest party in Kosovo and Assembly Speaker Jakup Krasniqi.

At the start of the voting process, Krasniqi warned that without the opposition the process does not honour MPs and those who would be voted. Later on, between the second and third round of the vote for president, Krasniqi said it was anti-constitutional how Thaçi temporarily interrupted the assembly session.

“You should know that this is a violation of the Constitution and the Assembly rules of procedure, because this is pressure on MPs,” Krasniqi said after Hajredin Kuçi with Thaçi’s insistence came to the podium and asked for a break for consultations.

A few minutes later when the results of the third round were announced, Krasniqi ironically said “the break was successful”.

AKR leader Behxhet Pacolli, who did not have a counter candidate, has been elected President of the state with votes from 62 MPs. The governing cabinet led by Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi received three votes more than Pacolli. The paper notes that the voting process could have failed if Thaçi had not summoned his MPs in a room after the second round of voting for President when some of them did not vote for Pacolli.

The United States Embassy in Pristina issued a statement congratulating Kosovo and the elected leaders and wished on the latter to successfully conclude the epic process of elections.

“With elections behind as for a foreseeable future, now comes the time for the new government to start governing,” read the statement. “It is emphasized that Kosovo is facing with many challenges and with a full agenda. In this direction, concentration of Prime Minister Thaçi in a substantial agenda which describes a vision for the future of Kosovo is extremely welcome.”

Meanwhile, the AKR announced that Behxhet Pacolli would no longer be leader of the party. “Immediately after he was voted by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo as President of the country, Behxhet Pacolli has resigned from all party duties as AKR leader and from the party membership,” read an AKR communiqué.

In the new governing cabinet will be five deputy Prime Ministers. Three from them at the same time will perform their duties as Ministers:

• Hajredin Kuçi will be Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister
• Mimoza Kusari-Lila – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade
• Slobodan Petrovic – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Governance
• While Edita Tahiri and Bujar Bukoshi will be only Deputy Prime Ministers
• In the list of Ministers are included:
• Enver Hoxhaj – Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Vlora Çitaku – Minister of European Integrations
• Bajram Rexhepi – Minister of Internal Affairs
• Bedri Hamza – Finance Minister
• Memli Krasniqi – Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports
• Besim Beqaj - Minister of Economic Development
• Ramë Buja – Minister of Education Science and Technology
• Mahir Jagcilar - Minister of Public Administration
• Fehmi Mujota – Minister of Infrastructure
• Blerand Stavileci – Minister of Agriculture
• Ferid Agani – Minister of Health
• Nenad Rasic – Minister of Labor and Social Welfare
• Dardan Gashi – Minister of Environment and spatial planning
• Radojica Tomic – Minister for Returns and Communities