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Kosovo president resigns, opens door to new crisis
Mar 30, 2011, 15:16 GMT
Behgjet Pacolli, newly elected president of Kosovo is seen during the visit of the family of late Kosovo\'s President Ibrahim Rugova, in Kosovo\'s capital Pristina, on 22 February 2011. Kosovo parliament elected businessman Behgjet Pacolli as country\'s new president on 22 February 2011. EPA/VALDRIN XHEMAJ
Pristina - Kosovo President Beghjet Pacolli, 59, resigned Wednesday after the country's highest court ruled his election unconstitutional.
In a statement, Pacolli said he respected the decision by the Constitutional Court 'in full.'
The court said Pacolli's election by parliament on February 22 was marred by irregularities, but that he himself had not violated any law.
While the ruling gives him the possibility to run again, this would require that the coalition led by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party settle their differences or face another snap election.
In the meantime, his resignation was set to again plunge Kosovo into a political crisis, only a month after Thaci's cabinet was elected.
Kosovo held early elections in December, after Thaci's previous coalition fell apart in the wake of the resignation of former Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu in September.
The former Serbian province, which has a majority Albanian population, fought Belgrade's security forces in 1999 and declared independence in 2008. Serbia continues opposing what it says was an illegal secession.
Belgrade, pressed by the European Union, agreed to launch direct talks with Pristina on problems which complicate the life of people on both sides of the border and hamper cooperation in the Balkans.
Read more about Kosovo Politics
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