Kosovo set for another snap election after failure to elect president

PRISTINA, April 29 (Reuters) – Kosovo is set for another snap election after parliament failed to elect a new president on Tuesday, pitching Europe’s youngest nation back into the thick of a political crisis. 

Parliament had until midnight on Tuesday to choose a head of state after President Vjosa Osmani’s term ended in early April, but Prime Minister Albin Kurti failed to bring on board opposition parties to vote for his candidate.

Two-thirds of the 120-seat parliament must be present for the vote to be valid. Failure to elect a new president triggers snap parliamentary elections.

“Based on the (Constitutional Court) verdict the parliament is considered dissolved,” said the speaker of the parliament and acting president Albulena Haxhiu at midnight. 

Haxhiu is expected to announce the election date soon. It would be the third vote in just over a year.

The move extends a political deadlock in Kosovo, which has aspirations to join the European Union. The Balkan country had no functioning government for most of last year as the fractured parliament failed to elect a speaker for months, threatening much-needed international funding.

A resounding election win by Kurti’s Vetevendosje party in December had looked likely to end more than a year of political stalemate.

Choosing a president, even one who has no significant political powers, has always proven to be challenging, as two-thirds of lawmakers must attend the voting session, a requirement that makes it easy for the process to be derailed.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci and Edward McAllister; Editing by Stephen Coates)