In Kosovo, the outgoing premier Albin Kurti seems destined for a second term, even if this time he will need allies to govern. After the 90 percent bare of the cards, his Vetevendosje party (self -determination) obtained about 41 percent of the consents. Also according to the last counts, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), on the right, arrived second with 22 percent of the votes, followed by the Kosovo Democratic League (LDK), accredited to 17 percent.
Kurti and his VV party campaign on their efforts to dismantle the remaining Serbian institutions in Kosovo, while expanding the scope of the government in the Serbian majority areas. In the 2021 elections, Kurti had obtained the absolute majority with 50.3 percent, which allowed him to become the first premier to complete an entire mandate since the country declared his independence in 2008.
They are used
But this time the Social Democrat Kurti will have to find allies. The 49 -year -old politician claimed the victory and declared that he wants to form a government, but it is not yet clear with those who will raise themselves, given that the PDK and the LDK have excluded any collaboration with him in the election campaign. As a result, the formation of the new executive may take weeks or even fail, leading to new elections. Only 40.59 percent of the Kosovari went to the polls yesterday, with a drop in participation compared to the last legislative elections of 2021, when the turnout had been slightly less than 50 percent.
The Serbian minority
Of the 20 seats reserved for minorities, the Srpska List (Serbian List) said he won all 10 seats reserved for the Serbian minority. Seats that, if confirmed, could put it in a position of power in a parliament that has often boycotted. During the last legislature, the Serbian deputies stopped holding offices in 2022, following a more general boycott of the Kosarta institutions by this minority.
“We thank our President Aleksandar Vucic for his congratulations and his support, not only today, but in all these years,” Zlatan Elek said at the press conference, head of this party considered by Pristina the armed wing of Serbia, a Country that has never accepted Kosovo’s independence. “We have only one country and only one president,” added the leader of the list, which also refuses to recognize the independence of the nation.
The clash with Belgrade
Kurti made his election campaign promising to govern the country “from one end to the other”, including the territories by Serbian majority, where Belgrade’s influence is much stronger than that of Pristina. In recent months, the premier has closed numerous parallel institutions (banks, post offices, administrations) that Serbia had financed to guarantee the loyalty of the Serbian minority.
The opposition, for his part, insisted on the criticism of the economic situation, hoping to unite the dissatisfied of Kurti’s years. With a population of 1.6 million inhabitants, Kosovo, unilaterally separating from Serbia in 2008, remains one of the poorest countries on the continent, despite the constant growth of the last few years. According to the latest data from the World Bank, in 2024 the poverty rate was 19.2 percent.
