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Kosovo fails to finalize parliamentary leadership

(ANSA) - PRISTINA, AUG 30 - The stalemate in the constitution of the new Parliament continues in Kosovo, where the box for one of the five vice presidents, the one pertaining to the Serb minority, remains empty. In recent days on the 58th ballot Dimal Basha had been elected president of the Assembly, and then in quick succession four of the five vice presidents - three due to the ethnic Albanian majority population and one for the Bosnian minority. On the Serbian representative there is an ongoing tug-of-war between candidates from Srpska Lista (SL), the largest party of the Serbian community in Kosovo, closely linked to Belgrade, and that of the Freedom and Justice Party, another small Serbian formation critical of the Serbian government and closer to the leadership in Pristina. In today's vote, neither SL's two candidates - Miljana Nikolic and Igor Simich - nor that of the rival party, Nenad Rasic, who was formerly a minister in the Kosovo government, achieved the minimum quorum of 61 votes for election. Srpska Lista appealed to the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, arguing that the parliament's rules of procedure are being violated, according to which the deputy speaker of the Assembly for the Serbian component is up to the party with the most deputies - SL has nine, the rival party one. The stalemate over the new Assembly prevents moving to the formation of a new government. Kosovo voted for parliamentarians on Feb. 9, and local elections are scheduled for Oct. 12. (ANSA).