By Konstantinos Tseros &euro newswithapebee
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According to exit polls on Sunday night, Interim Prime Minister Albin Kurti won Kosovo’s second parliamentary election in 2025 with about 42.30% of the vote, leaving his leftist National Self-Determination Party short of an absolute majority.
Kosovo is holding parliamentary elections, with 2 million people expected to head to the polls on Sunday to elect a second 120-member parliament in 2025.
The last election held on February 9th failed to form a government, and attempts to form a coalition government also failed, leaving an interim government in power for almost 10 months.
The Central Election Commission reported that 8.27% of registered voters had cast their votes by 11am (12pm in Greece and Cyprus), about the same percentage as at the same point in the previous election.
in the midst of a political crisis
Kosovo is facing its most serious political crisis since it declared independence in 2008.
As interim prime minister, Albin Kurti refused to compromise. His insistence on having only one candidate for the speaker’s post resulted in an insignificant 50 votes, and it took months for parliament to even formulate a formal constitution.
It remains unclear whether Sunday’s election will bring a breakthrough to the political deadlock. Kosovo analysts predict that Kurti’s Movement for Self-Determination (LVV) will emerge as the main party again, but it is unlikely to win more than the 50% vote needed to elect 61 members to parliament. In the last election on February 9, the LVV won 42.3% of the vote and elected 48 members.
Kurti’s support is expected to increase in these elections, as around 300,000 citizens living and working abroad have returned to Kosovo in recent days. The diaspora has traditionally been a strong voter base for the party, which partly explains why the election was scheduled for the holiday season.
Analysts say the second strongest party is Bendri Hamza’s Democratic Union of Kosovo (PDK). A prominent economist, Hamza served as Minister of Finance and Governor of the Central Bank, served three terms in parliament, and was mayor of South Mitrovica. He considers the United States to be Kosovo’s most important ally and blames Kurti for causing a crisis in relations with the country through his policies. The fact that he maintains communication channels with the Serb community in northern Kosovo is also considered important.
The oldest political party, the Democratic Union of Kosovo (LDK), is most likely to emerge as the third political force. The 42-year-old leader, Lumir Abdikou, has promised economic reforms, a crackdown on corruption, the rule of law and a European perspective. As the third political force, this party can play a decisive role in establishing a government after elections.
In the Serbian region, the Belgrade-backed “Serbia List” is expected to assert its dominance.
According to Kosovo’s constitution, 20 of the 120 seats in parliament belong to minorities. The Serb community holds 10 seats and other ethnic minorities hold 10 seats.
As has often been the case in the past, members of the minority can decide the outcome of the government-forming process. Serb political representatives exclude any cooperation with the Albin Kurti movement.
Voting in Kosovo’s Sunday election began at 7 a.m. and ended at 7 p.m.
A total of 2,076,290 citizens have the right to vote in Kosovo.