Pristina, 6 March 2026 (dpa/MIA) - Kosovo was headed to a snap parliamentary election — its third in just over a year — after lawmakers failed to choose a new head of state by a constitutional deadline.

President Vjosa Osmani on Friday said she was dissolving parliament and urged political parties to select a date for elections on the same day, local media reported.

Osmani’s five-year mandate expires on April 4. Under Kosovo's constitution, at least two-thirds of the 120 lawmakers must be present in parliament to elect a successor.

The president's move came after only 66 members of parliament — largely from the governing camp — attended a session to choose her replacement, falling well short of the required quorum of 80.

Under the constitution, early elections must now be held because parliament failed to elect a successor within the required 30-day period before the incumbent’s mandate expires.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s left-wing nationalist party Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement) had nominated two candidates from its own ranks without coordinating with the opposition.

Opposition parties said they had been sidelined and so boycotted the session, preventing the vote from going ahead.

Kosovo has already held two elections in the past year. Vetëvendosje received the most votes in the February 9, 2025 election but Kurti failed to find coalition partners, leaving the country in political deadlock.

A new election on December 28 gave the party a majority and Kurti secured a second consecutive term as prime minister.

Osmani would have been eligible for a second term and had signalled her willingness to run again. However, Kurti declined to nominate her for re-election, even though opposition parties may have accepted her candidacy and allowed the election process to proceed.

MIA file photo