Kosovo bans opposition PM candidate from running in Feb 14 election
Reuters
1/26/2021
PRISTINA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Kosovo’s election commission on Tuesday barred the leader of the biggest opposition party from running in a national election on Feb. 14 that it is expected to win due to a court conviction he received in 2018.
The court handed Albin Kurti, leader of the nationalist party Vetevendosje, an 18-month suspended jail sentence in 2018 for releasing tear gas in the parliamentary chamber to halt a debate on a deal with Belgrade that granted more autonomy to municipalities where ethnic Serbs form a majority.
Kosovo’s Constitutional Court ruled in December that nobody who has been convicted of a crime in the past three years can run for parliament.