Kosovo’s Constitutional Court announced on Wednesday it has overturned a March 6 decree by President Vjosa Osmani to dissolve parliament over a lack of agreement about her successor – giving more time to the ruling Vetevendosje party to try to install a new head of state.

The court said that judges have unanimously decided that Osmani’s decree to dissolve parliament has “no legal effect”. It gave MPs another 34 days to elect a new president in order to avoid new snap elections.

“[The court] concluded that if parliament fails to elect the president within the [34-day] period… parliament shall be dissolved, and consequently, early elections for parliament shall be held within 45 days [of the dissolution],” the Constitutional Court verdict reads.

Straight after the verdict, Vigan Qorrolli, a Vetevendosje MP, welcomed the ruling that struck down Osmani’s decree, saying that “an act born of political bitterness cannot defeat the constitutional order”.

“The outgoing President attempted to trample on the fundamental act of the Republic with both feet, but the Constitution does not bow to the wills of the moment,” Qorrolli wrote on Facebook.

Kosovo’s Constitutional Court Suspends President’s Decree Dissolving Parliament

Osmani dissolved parliament on March 6, a few hours after MPs failed to elect a new president. By law, a two-thirds majority of MPs is required to elect a new head of state. If they fail twice, the bar drops to a simple majority of 61. Osmani dissolved parliament before it even voted once.

Osmani’s five-year term ends in April. She has voiced her wish to continue, but the ruling Vetevendosje party of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, which backed her last time, proposed its own candidate, Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca. It also proposed Vetevendosje MP Fatmire Mulhaxha Kollcaku, as regulations require more than one candidate to be on the ballot for the vote to be considered valid.

Condemning Vetevendosje for not seeking a consensus for the presidency, opposition MPs boycotted a session of parliament earlier this month that began two hours before the deadline to elect a new head of state, depriving the chamber of the necessary quorum.

Osmani promptly dissolved parliament, only for her decree to be challenged by Vetevendosje before the Constitutional Court – which has now ruled against her.

If the MPs fail again to elect a president within the deadline provided by the Constitutional Court, Kosovo might then hold its third parliamentary election in just over a year.

Following months of political deadlock triggered by an inconclusive election in February last year, Kosovo returned to the polls in December; Vetevendosje won control of 57 of parliament’s 120 seats, just shy of a majority.

Vetevendosje is the only party that can unite at least 30 MPs, on its own, to put forward a name for a presidential candidate, meaning the bitterly divided opposition has to rally around a consensus candidate.