Kosovo's caretaker prime minister, Albin Kurti, has failed to secure enough parliamentary support to form a government, deepening the country's months-long political crisis.
Kurti's Vetevendosje party (VV) secured only 56 votes, short of the 61 seats needed for a government, leaving the country without a viable administration almost nine months after elections.
The president will now need to announce a prime ministerial candidate for a second vote in parliament.
It is unclear whether Kurti, 50, could be considered, or whether an opposition candidate will be put forward instead.
But if no clear majority can be formed on the second vote in parliament, Europe's youngest country could be forced to hold another legislative election.
Kurti — who stays on as the head of the caretaker government — told parliament ahead of the vote loss that every day without a new administration was "a day of loss for development, for the citizens, for the state".
He warned that, without a government in place, the country risked going to fresh elections without a budget, which could jeopardise its ability to fund key services, including pensions, medicine supply, police and security services.
"A country without a budget is a country that cannot move forward."
Refusing to govern with Kurti
Kurti's leftwing party won the most votes in February's election, but it failed to secure enough seats to govern, leading to bitter disputes and delays to key votes in a divided parliament.
Lumir Abdixhiku, the chair of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), one of the main opposition parties, directly blamed Kurti for blocking "Kosovo for eight months".
"It seems that we are heading for extraordinary elections," Abdixhiku said.
Opposition parties have refused to govern with Kurti, criticising his handling of Kosovo's relations with its Western allies and his actions in Kosovo's ethnically divided north, where a Serb minority lives.
Kurti, a leftist and Albanian nationalist, came to power in 2021 when a coalition run by Vetevendosje received more than 50 percent of the votes and secured a seven-seat majority in parliament.
Kosovo, Europe's newest country, gained independence from Serbia in 2008 with backing from the United States after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Serbian forces in 1999.
