(Bloomberg) -- Kosovo will hold early parliamentary elections in October as it seeks to stabilize Europe’s newest nation after its Premier Ramush Haradinaj resigned to face allegations at a war crimes court.
President Hashim Thaci set the election for Oct. 6, his office said in an emailed statement on Monday. The vote should lead to a new government that may decide whether to unblock stalled talks with Serbia, from which it declared independence in 2008, a decade after a war over the territory that ended with NATO-led bombing of Serbia. The two nations need to settle their disputes to proceed and qualify for European Union membership.
The vote for Kosovo’s 120-seat assembly, almost two years before scheduled, comes amid a power struggle between Thaci, Haradinaj and a few other nationalist leaders in the landlocked state of 1.9 million people. Haradinaj, one of Kosovo’s most popular politicians, has said he would run for office again if not indicted for war crimes.
Key issues for Kosovo include reviving one of Europe’s weakest economies and uprooting corruption. EU-mediated talks between the Balkan neighbors stalled in 2018 when Kosovo imposed a trade barrier to punish Serbs for their lobbying against Kosovo’s recognition in international organizations.