Reuters: Kosovo in deep political crisis, Kurti failed to secure votes for his presidential candidate

Parliament had until midnight Tuesday to elect a head of state after President Vjosa Osmani's mandate ended in early April, but Prime Minister Albin Kurti failed to secure opposition parties' support to vote on his candidate.

Two-thirds of the 120-seat parliament should be present for the vote to be valid. Failure to elect a new president causes early parliamentary elections.

“Based on the act of (the Constitutional Court), parliament is considered distributed”, Parliament Speaker and acting president Albulen Haxhiu said 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 political deadlock in Kosovo, which has aspirations to join the European Union. The Balkan nation did not have functional governments for much of last year after the fragmented parliament failed for months to elect a chairman, jeopardising much needed international financing.

A convincing victory in the election of Kurt's Vetevendosje party in December seemed to end more than a year of political stalemate.

The election of a president, even when he does not have significant political competencies, has always resulted in challenging results, as two-thirds of MPs must participate in the voting session -- a requirement that makes the process easy to break.