Kosovo Parliament Sets Date for Presidential Vote

Opposition MPs in Kosovo again let off tear gas in parliament on Wednesday during a meeting of the Steering Committee, which met to decide the date to elect a new president.

The speaker, Kadri Veseli announced that the vote would take place on Friday, with Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci as the main candidate for the post.

Thaci's opponent for the presidency will be Rafet Rama, from Thaci's own Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK.

Thaci and Rama need 80 out of 120 votes in the parliament to be elected President of Kosovo.

"It's a special, historical moment. We promised a transparent process and we've kept it. We've never had bigger space to inform the opinion and media," Veseli said on Wednesday. 

Aida Derguti, an opposition MP, was arrested on suspicion of letting off tear gas in order to interrupt the meeting, which gathered to discuss the request of the 40 governing coalition MPs for an extraordinary meeting to elect the president.

The signatures were collected before the start of the Wednesday's session in which opposition MPs did not participate.

Some opposition MPs, who had spent Tuesday night protesting outside parliament in tents, reacted quickly and demanded the right to participate in the meeting.

The opposition is protesting against the government's controversial agreements with Serbia and Montenegro, one on the establishment of an autonomous Association of Serbian Municipalities and the other on border demarcation with Montenegro.

"This was illegal and unacceptable meeting," opposition Vetevendosje politician Albin Kurti said after Wednesday's meeting.

"The members of the presidency are organising themselves to smuggle in an old politician as president," he added.

"We should all gather on...