Court bars Kosovo president from announcing snap election date

PRISTINA, March 10 (Reuters) – Kosovo’s highest court told the president late on Monday not to announce the date for a snap election before March 31, a move that further prolongs a political crisis that has engulfed the tiny Balkan nation.

Last Friday, President Vjosa Osmani dissolved the parliament and called a snap election – without setting a date – after lawmakers failed to pick a new head of state within the constitutional deadline that expired at midnight on Thursday.

Her move extended a political deadlock in Kosovo, which is Europe’s youngest nation and has aspirations to join the European Union. Kosovo had no functioning government for most of last year as the fractured parliament failed to elect a speaker for months.

In a verdict published late on Monday, the Constitutional Court temporarily barred the president from setting an election date and also froze the parliament’s efforts to elect a new head of state. The court decision stays in effect until March 31.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti had asked the Constitutional Court to rule on whether Osmani had acted in line with the constitution. Kurti is a former ally of Osmani but decided not to back her for a second term in the ceremonial role of president.

Kurti’s government welcomed the court verdict but added: “For three weeks we will be in a state of waiting, while a number of agreements and decisions of importance for citizens continue to remain without approval by the parliament.”

The parliamentary election, if it goes ahead, would be the third in just over a year.

Choosing a president – though the role brings no significant political powers – has always proven politically challenging because two-thirds of lawmakers must attend the voting session in parliament, making it easy to disrupt.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci, editing by Gareth Jones)