By Ivan Blazhevski
Pristina, Feb 9 (EFE).- Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s ruling “Vetëvendosje” party (Self-Determination Movement) won Kosovo’s parliamentary elections on Sunday according to early projections, but would lose the absolute majority it has held since 2021.
In elections four years ago, the left-wing nationalist prime minister won 50.3% of the vote and 58 of the 120 seats in parliament. This year, early projections estimate between 38.2 and 42.3% of the vote.
As for the distribution of seats, 20 are reserved for ethnic minorities in the former Serbian province that declared independence in February 2008, 10 of them for Kosovo Serbs and the rest for others such as Romani people and Bosniaks.
According to projections by the daily Koha Ditore and Klan Kosova television, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which emerged from the Kosovo Albanian guerrilla group Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), came second (between 21.0 and 22.4% of the vote), ahead of the historic pro-independence Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 20%.
AAK-NISMA, another UCK party, won between 6 and 7.6% of the vote, meaning that the three opposition parties together can have more seats than the prime minister’s party.
If these results are confirmed, Koha Ditore and Klan Kosova estimate that Kurti would win between 43 and 47 seats, the PDK and LDK between 23 and 25 seats each, and AAK-NISMA between seven and nine seats.
Until the Vetëvendosje Movement came to power, these three parties had always shared governance since the end of the Kosovo War (1998-1999).
With Sunday’s seat distribution, the opposition parties could form a bloc against Kurti and take over the government.
“The opposition has won this election,” AAK-NISMA leader and former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj said.
“I congratulate the opposition on its victory. I hope to participate in the formation of an opposition government,” Haradinaj told local media.
Up until 2024, the Kosovo authorities have banned the use of the Serbian dinar as a medium of exchange in northern Kosovo. A few weeks ago, they also dismantled Serbia’s so-called “parallel structures” in that part of its territory, such as tax offices and post offices.
The Serbian government does not recognize the independence of its former province and s the Serbian minority in the neighboring country, about 6% of the population, living mainly in the northern part of Kosovo, which borders Serbia.
Since 2011, Kosovo and Serbia have been negotiating a normalization of their relations under the auspices of the European Union with few concrete results so far.
The first official results of the election are expected within the next few hours.
More than 2 million people, including around 100,000 abroad, were called to vote and elect a new parliament in Kosovo on Sunday.
Voter turnout was very low, at just 40%, according to provisional figures from 90% of polling stations. In the 2021 elections, turnout was around 47%. EFE
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