Kosovo president dissolves parliament, calls snap election after failed presidential vote

March 6 (Reuters) - Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani on Friday dissolved parliament and called snap elections after lawmakers failed to elect ​a new head of state within a constitutional deadline.

The parliament ‌had until midnight on Thursday to choose a president before Osmani’s term ends in April, but opposition parties refused to participate in the vote. Under the Balkan country’s ​law, failure to elect a new president triggers snap parliamentary ​elections.

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

The next elections will be the third in just over a year. Kosovo already held a snap election on December ​28 after failing to form a government following the February 2025 poll.

“A ​parliament that cannot elect a president cannot continue indefinitely to drag out the process ‌as ⁠is being attempted,” Osmani said in a statement. “No one should wish for another political cycle, especially at this moment when the country needs stability."

Osmani is due to meet political parties on Friday before setting an election ​date.

A resounding election ​win by Prime ⁠Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje party in December looked likely to end the stalemate. At the time, many political analysts ​believed that the opposition would participate in votes to ​elect ⁠the president.

However, although Vetevendosje won enough seats in the parliament to form the government it failed to secure the opposition’s participation required to elect ⁠the ​president.

The opposition parties have asked for a ​consensual candidate, but Kurti has nominated his foreign minister, Glauk Konjufca.

Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Writing by ​Antonis Pothitos and Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Edward McAllister

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