Kosovo’s ruling party wins election after months of political deadlock

Preliminary results show that the Albanian nationalist party Vitwendosje won a landslide victory in Kosovo’s parliamentary elections.

With 90% of the votes counted, the party’s vote share was 50.8%, meaning that party leader Albin Kurti was re-elected for a third term.

The two main opposition parties, the centre-right Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) received 20.98% and 13.89% respectively.

Vitwendosje won elections in February but fell short of a majority, and Kosovo has been without a functioning government since then.

Deadlock means there is a big issue unresolved The second parliamentary election this year.

Will voters punish Kurti for the months-long deadlock in the country’s parliament, or will they punish opposition parties that refuse to support an alliance with Kurti’s left-wing movement?

Voters have given a clear answer. That’s not enough to give Kurti enough seats to govern without a coalition partner. But he should not find it difficult to win support from members of ethnic minority parties, which are guaranteed 20 of the 120 seats in the National Assembly.

This is the fourth consecutive parliamentary election victory for Vitwendosje. The result justified opposition efforts to block his efforts to form a government after the February 9 polls.

Kurti claimed it was “the greatest victory in the history of the country” and said he hoped opposition parties would cooperate this time rather than obstruct.

Arben Gashi of the third-placed Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) said it was possible. “When voters speak, the results cannot be ignored,” he posted on social media. “There is a need to reflect and act responsibly,” he added.

The stakes are high. Kosovo has missed out on hundreds of millions of euros worth of EU funding due to the lack of an effectively functioning government. Kurti also mentioned a possible agreement with the World Bank, which would bring the total amount to more than 1 billion euros.

Repairing relations with Kosovo’s most powerful international backers, the European Union and the United States, should also be on the agenda. Kurti has angered Brussels and Washington by repeatedly targeting institutions that serve Kosovo’s Serb minority – from the post office to medical facilities. This has heightened tensions in Kosovo’s Serb-majority north.

The EU finally agreed to cancel the punitive measures implemented in 2023. But it will seek a pragmatic approach from Kurti to long-stalled normalization talks with Serbia, rather than sticking to his usual dogmatic line. That may be a futile hope given his frosty relationship with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

The fact that Kosovo voters strongly support such a polarizing figure reflects their bias against alternatives. In the decade since the 2008 unilateral declaration of independence, parties linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army have dominated the government but failed to deliver on promises of prosperity.

One analyst, Artan Muhaxhiri, noted that during his time in power, Vitwendosiya suffered “numerous constitutional violations, a lack of economic development and a breakdown in relations with allies.”

But he concluded that “for all its shortcomings, citizens view the opposition as more harmful”.