Kosovo citizens vote today for parliament for the second time this year. The early vote came after the regular parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025 led to an institutional and political deadlock and the inability to form a government.
The elections are taking place in conditions of interrupted dialogue with the United States, which Kosovo considers its main partner and ally, unclear future coalitions and fears of a new political crisis.
FROM REGULAR PARLIAMENTARY TO EARLY PARLIAMENTARY VOTE
After the parliamentary elections in Kosovo in February, none of the parties received a majority of 61 votes in the 120-seat parliament, which is why none of the candidates presented for speaker of the Kosovo parliament gathered sufficient support and the work of the institution was blocked. Almost seven months after the elections and after 57 failed attempts to form the parliament, on 26 August, Dimal Basha from the ruling left-wing Movement “Self-Determination“ (LVV) was elected as its speaker, as were four of the five deputy speakers (three from the largest parliamentary parties and one from the Bosniak community in Kosovo).
After another blockage of the work of the parliament, the fifth deputy speaker, who according to the constitution must be from the Serb community, was elected on 10 October, eight months after the parliamentary elections, thus officially constituting the parliament. This paved the way for the efforts of the first political force in the elections - – – Self-Determination“ and Prime Minister Albin Kurti as the first mandate holder - to form a government.
After two failed attempts by – Self-Determination“ to form a cabinet, as permitted by the constitution, Kosovo headed towards early elections.
DIALOGUE WITH THE US SUSPENDED
On September 12, the US announced that it was suspending the strategic dialogue with Kosovo indefinitely. A statement from the US embassy said Washington was taking the drastic step because of concerns about the outgoing government's actions in Pristina, which have increased tensions and instability and limited the US's ability to work productively with Kosovo on shared priorities.
They cited "recent actions and statements by outgoing Prime Minister (Albin) Kurti" as the reason for this, which have "questioned the progress achieved over many years", but did not provide further details.
In recent years, Kurti has been criticized by Kosovo's international allies for some decisions in northern Kosovo - an area populated mainly by Serbs - which were related to the replacement of Serbian license plates with Kosovo ones, the abolition of the Serbian dinar as a means of payment and the closure of institutions operating under the Serbian system, recalls the Albanian edition of Radio Free Europe.
UNCLEAR FUTURE COALITIONS AND FEARS OF A NEW CRISIS
According to data from the Kosovo Central Election Commission (CEC), 24 political forces with a total of 1,180 candidates appear on the ballot for Sunday's elections.
The main race in the elections is between the four largest political parties of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. These are the ruling left-wing nationalist Movement “Self-Determination“ (LVV) of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the center-right Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of Bedri Hamza, the center-right Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) of Lumir Abdixiku, and the right-wing Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) of former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.
The four party leaders are also the candidates of each of the political forces for Prime Minister of Kosovo. The only difference in the candidates compared to the regular parliamentary elections in February is that the PDK's candidate for prime minister, Bedri Hamza, was elected party chairman in November this year, after its previous leader Memli Krasniqi resigned.
The leaders of the DSK, PDK and ABK repeatedly stated after the regular parliamentary elections that they did not want to cooperate with Kurti and his party.
After his election as PDK leader, Hamza, when asked if he could cooperate with "Self-Determination", stated that he had no red lines towards any political force. "I think we should be responsible for the interests of Kosovo and always take the necessary actions for the benefit of the state," he said.
Despite this request for possible cooperation, coalitions with an unstable majority after today's parliamentary vote remain unclear.
For this reason, fears have emerged in the country's media that if this time no party manages to gain a majority and does not reach an agreement on a coalition, Kosovo risks going to another early parliamentary election.
EXPECTATIONS
There is almost no official sociological survey in Kosovo about attitudes before today's parliamentary vote.
According to a survey commissioned by the newspaper „Sinjali“ „Samoordeđenje“ will be the first political force with 56 percent, followed by the PDK with 25 percent support, DSK with 15 percent and ABK with 3 percent.
In the regular parliamentary elections, the "Self-Determination" Movement won 48 seats, the Democratic Party of Kosovo – 24 seats, the Democratic Union of Kosovo – 20 seats, the coalition around the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo – 5 seats and the center-left INITIATIVE – 3 seats.
Minority communities are guaranteed 20 seats in the 120-seat parliament regardless of whether they pass the 5 percent threshold for entry into it – 10 for Serbs and a total of 10 for Turks, Bosniaks, Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians and Gorani.
In the February elections, the largest party of Kosovo Serbs "Serbian List" received 9 of the 10 reserved seats. The last, tenth place for the Serb community, was taken by the party of the Minister of Communities and the return to the previous government of Kosovo Nenad Rašić – the civic initiative "For Freedom, Justice and Survival" (GI SPO).
„Serbian List“ won all ten predominantly Serb municipalities in Kosovo in the two-round local elections in October and November 2025 and is likely to receive greater support in today's parliamentary vote.
The early parliamentary elections in Kosovo are expected to show the trust of Kosovo citizens in political forces, especially compared to the regular parliamentary elections this year, and to set the direction of politics for the next four years.