PRISTINA, March 10 - Kosovo's highest court told the president late on Monday not to announce the date for a snap election before March 31, a move that further prolongs a political crisis that has engulfed the tiny Balkan nation.

Last Friday, President Vjosa Osmani dissolved the parliament and called a snap election - without setting a date - after lawmakers failed to pick a new head of state within the constitutional deadline that expired at midnight on Thursday.