(ANSA-AFP) - PRISTINA, JUL 25 - A months-long standoff over Kosovo's next parliamentary speaker is dragging the tiny Balkan nation toward an unparalleled crisis, experts warn, ahead of a deadline this weekend. On Friday, Kosovo's MPs failed for a 52nd time to pick their new speaker, a key step toward Albin Kurti's possible return to office. Another vote is scheduled for Saturday, which will give lawmakers just hours to meet a court mandate. "This is an unparallelled situation, an undefined vacuum and chaos," law professor Mazllum Baraliu told AFP. Although Kurti's Vetevendosje party topped the February elections, it did not win the seats needed to install its chosen speaker, Albulena Haxhiu - a pick that opponents view as too political for the role. Even if the Vetevendosje overcomes this impasse, the party will still need to negotiate its way to a majority to govern. Last month, after dozens of failed votes, the Constitutional Court set a 30-day deadline, which expires at midnight on Saturday. Baraliu said instead of cooperating to protect the state, 120 MPs instead had "trampled" it. "That is absurd," he said. (ANSA-AFP).