Former Kosovo PM excluded from running in Feb. 14 election

Election authorities in Kosovo on Tuesday excluded a former prime minister from running in country's early parliamentary election next month due to his sentencing for a crime in last three years.

Central Election Commission and Election Complaints and Appeals Panel said conviction me former Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who les Self-Determination Movement, or Vetevendosje! party, ineligible as a candidate under Kosovo law.

commission and panel also ruled against or potential candidates from Vetevendosje! and at least two more political parties who received criminal sentences within last three years.

Kurti and or Vetevendosje! lawmakers were sentenced in 2018 for using tear gas and or violent acts to disrupt parliament during a vote on a border demarcation deal with Montenegro and ar vote on an association for ethnic Serb-dominated areas in Kosovo.

Vetevendosje! said it would appeal decision to Kosovo's Supreme Court. party is favored to win most votes in Feb. 14 election, with Kurti expected to regain post of prime minister. When Kurti served as prime minister for 50 days last year, one challenged his eligibility.

election was scheduled after Constitutional Court rendered invalid a vote by a sentenced lawmaker who helped confirm a Cabinet named in June after Kurti was fired from post. Approval of new government requires at least 61 votes in 120-seat parliament.

After Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign in June 1999, Pristina declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia has t recognized that.