Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s ruling party Vetevendosje has clearly won the early parliamentary elections in Kosovo.
December 29, 2025, 05:45December 29, 2025, 05:45
After counting from almost all polling stations, the social democratic formation received 49.4 percent of the votes, as the state election commission in the capital Pristina announced.
Albin Kurti lets his supporters celebrate him.Image: keystone
This means that Vetevendosje (in German: self-determination) will receive almost half of the seats in the new parliament and, together with some ethnic minority parties, could have a governing majority, wrote the portal “koha.net”. It was the second parliamentary election this year. It became necessary because there was no clear majority after the last regular election on February 9th and Kurti was unable to agree on a coalition with any of the opposition parties. The 50-year-old politician had previously ruled practically alone.
Kurtis devotees celebrate
Supporters of the ruling party drove through Pristina in motorcades, honking their horns. Fireworks lit up the sky. “After fair, democratic and free elections, we are even more victorious today than at the beginning of February,” said Kurti in a short speech that was broadcast on television. With the new mandate, the government would face many tasks, “the good work that has been done so far must be continued,” he added.
According to the electoral commission, the liberal Democratic Party (PDK) received 21 percent of the vote, the bourgeois Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) received 13.6 percent and the conservative Alliance for the Future (AAK) received 5.7 percent of the vote. In the Kosovo electoral system, the Serb minority is entitled to ten mandates in the 120-seat parliament, while the other ethnic groups – including Bosniaks, Turks and Roma – are entitled to another ten mandates.
Vetevendosje improved by seven percentage points compared to February. The PDK maintained its share of the vote, the LDK worsened by more than four percentage points. Voter turnout was 45 percent, slightly lower than in February (46.6 percent).
Observer: Election date could have helped
Commentators attributed Vetevendosje’s success to the party’s great mobilization potential. The election date between Christmas and New Year also helped her. During this time, many Kosovars who work abroad, including in Switzerland and Germany, visit their homeland. This group of voters is particularly supportive of Vetevendosje.
The youngest state in Europe
Kurti has ruled since 2021 in Europe’s youngest state, which declared its independence in 2008 and is now inhabited almost exclusively by Albanians. The former Serbian province broke away from the crumbling Yugoslavia and split off from Serbia after an armed uprising by the KLA militia and a NATO intervention in 1999. Serbia still does not recognize Kosovo’s independence and continues to claim the area for itself.
During his reign, Kurti eliminated the parallel institutions supported by the Serbian government in the north of the country, which borders Serbia and is almost exclusively inhabited by Serbs. In doing so, he also accepted conflicts with the European Union, which advocated a cautious approach and imposed punitive measures on Kosovo. The EU rolled back some of the measures this month.
The reforms promised by Kurti have so far only partially taken shape. Critics complain that new laws intended to curb corruption have not yet been implemented effectively. For the Union, Kosovo is only considered a potential candidate for membership. The reason for this is that five EU countries – Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia – have not yet recognized the country’s independence. (sda/dpa/con)