Kosovo votes in bid to end year-long political impasse

Kosovo residents headed to the polls on Sunday (December 28) as nationalist Prime Minister Albin Kurti's party seeks a majority to end a year-long political deadlock that has paralysed parliament and delayed international funding.

The vote is the second this year in Europe's youngest nation after Kurti's Vetevendosje party fell short of a majority in February.

Months of failed coalition talks prompted President Vjosa Osmani to dissolve parliament in November and call an early election.

Failure to form a government and reopen parliament would prolong the crisis at a critical time: lawmakers must elect a new president in April and ratify 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in loan agreements from the European Union and World Bank that expire in the coming months.

The Balkan country's opposition parties have refused to govern with Kurti, criticising his handling of ties with Western allies and his approach to Kosovo's ethnically divided north, where a Serb minority lives. Kurti blames the opposition for the impasse.

Opinion polls are not published in Kosovo, leaving the outcome uncertain.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will close at 7 p.m. Exit polls are expected soon after voting ends.

Production: Fedja Grulovic, Branko Filipovic, Fatos Bytyci, and Malgorzata Wojtunik/Reuters