Kosovo found itself on the brink of political uncertainty yesterday as the main parties rejected the possibility of forming an alliance after elections in which the ruling party failed to secure an outright victory.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti's party, Self-Determination, won 41,1 percent of the vote with 97 percent of ballots counted, results from the election commission showed.
Reuters writes that at stake is the future of Kosovo's politics in the ethnically divided north and relations with its traditional allies, the European Union and the United States, which have expressed opposition to Kurti's rule.
Political analysts said Kurti would have to form a coalition either with the second-place Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK), which won 22,2 percent of the vote, or with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), which received 17,8 percent.
But that seemed unlikely yesterday. In an early morning victory speech, Kurti, who had ruled out forming a coalition before the election, called the opposition “animals” and “thieves” ready to make a deal “with the devil” against his government.
PDK leader Bedri Hamza said his party will not form a coalition with Self-Determination. "We have many differences, they want absolute power," he said at a press conference yesterday.
He hinted that his party would try to form a coalition, although this would require a partnership with at least three other smaller parties.
The third-placed LDK said it would wait for the final results before announcing its plans. Before the elections, they ruled out a coalition with Kurti.
Self-determination received more than 2021 percent of the vote in 50.
Fourth place was won by the coalition of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and the Social Democratic Initiative (ABK Initiative) with 7,65 percent.
The Serbian List won in all municipalities with a Serb majority, winning 4,05 percent of the vote.
“The preliminary results show one true, accurate and clear thing, and that is that the Self-Determination movement won the elections on February 9, 2025,” Kurti told supporters in Pristina, as the crowd set off fireworks, beat drums and waved Albanian flags.
During the fierce election campaign, fines for irregularities were tripled compared to the 2021 elections. The campaign has been marked by debates about corruption, crime, healthcare and education, but in the background is a simmering crisis in the north, where Kurti's moves to reduce the autonomy of ethnic Serbs have heightened tensions and further isolated Kosovo from the EU and the US.
Reuters writes that a government led by Kurti would likely continue its policy of strengthening control over the north, where about 50.000 ethnic Serbs live, and that this worries moderates who fear a return to ethnic violence.
The EU imposed economic restrictions on Kosovo in 2023 for its role in escalating tensions, cutting funding by at least 150 million euros, Reuters has revealed.
The director of Radio Kim from Čaglavica, Isak Vorgučić, stated that a portion of Self-Determination voters turned their backs on Kurti due to EU sanctions and deteriorating relations with the US.
"The outcome of yesterday's elections is not surprising, because for months before the elections it was clear that a part of Kurti's voters would not support Self-Determination this time, because they saw that Kosovo was losing the support of the international community, primarily the EU and the US. This led Albanian voters to opt for opposition parties," Vorgučić told Beta agency.
When asked who would form the new government, he recalled that Kurti "sworn" that he would not form a coalition with any of the opposition parties.
"At this moment, the formation of a Kosovo government is very uncertain, because no one has an absolute majority. However, last night, in his address to the media, Kurti still said that he could form a government with one of the opposition parties. On the other hand, the three major opposition parties (DPK, LDK and ABK), if they agreed, could form a government with representatives of minorities. The question is also whether they would accept a coalition with the Srpska List because after Banjska, according to their vocabulary, the Srpska List is known as an organization that supports Milan Radoičić's terrorists," Vorgučić said.
Political scientist Cvijetin Milivojević assessed that the results of the elections in Kosovo will not change anything and that the Albanian political elite will continue to insist on independence and claim that Serbs are a national minority in that area.
He told Beta that there is "no real democracy" in Kosovo and that Serbs there actually have no choice.
"Regardless of who will form the new government in Kosovo, the Albanian political elite has a unified position that Kosovo is independent. Serbs are a national minority for them. That position contradicts the opinion of the rest of Serbia and our Constitution. Vučić's (Serbian President Aleksandar) government is cooperative in violating the Constitution (...) Serbs in Kosovo actually have no choice, but are conditioned to vote for the Serbian List. Anyone who tries anything outside of that party is accused of treason," said Milivojević.
According to him, there are currently 30 percent fewer Serbs living in Kosovo than in 2012, and this is a consequence of the "bad moves" of the current Serbian government.
"It was not Kurti who drove Serbs out of the institutions, it was Vučić," said Milivojević.
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