Pristina (EFE).- Polling stations opened at 6am GMT for its two million voters as the country aims to break its nearly year-long political deadlock after the February elections failed to throw a definitive result for government formation.
Voting will continue until 6pm GMT in the nearly 1,000 polling stations of the Balkan country, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Although most of the electorate are to vote on Sunday, some citizens, including prisoners, hospitalized people and emigrants registered in embassies and consulates, began voting a day earlier.
The elections come after attempts to form a government failed.
In February, Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement), the party led by acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, secured 48 of the 120 seats in parliament, significantly short of the 61 seats needed for a majority, and failed to form a coalition government.
The other parties too failed to come up with an alternative coalition to reach parliamentary majority.
President Vjosa Osmani twice invited Kurti’s party to form the government but it failed to shore up the necessary numbers in the legislature, leading to the announcement of early elections.
Kurti, whose second term lasted between March 2021 and March 2025, has since served as the interim head of government.
These are the seventh parliamentary elections since independence in Kosovo – not recognized by Serbia and several other European Union states – and are being monitored by almost 20,000 national and international observers.
According to pre-poll surveys, Vetëvendosje is the favorite to win with 50-53 percent support among determined voters, followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo with 19 percent, the Democratic League of Kosovo with 17 percent and the AAK-NISMA coalition with up to nine percent.
Around 20 percent of the electorate remains undecided and “Serb List” is the favourite to obtain the 10 seats reserved for the Serbian minority.
The election comes amid heightened tensions with Serbia since 2021 and Kurti’s clashes with the EU and the US, Kosovo’s main allies.
Brussels and Washington consider that Kurti’s hard-handed policy to reduce Serbia’s influence among the Kosovo Serb minority increases tension and, moreover, they blame him for not creating a promised community of Serbian municipalities, with some autonomy.
The EU expects a government ready to revive the normalization talks with Belgrade, a condition for both Serbia and Kosovo to move toward integration into the EU bloc.
In 2023, the European Commission imposed diplomatic sanctions and froze funds for Kosovo, but European Council President Ursula von der Leyen promised earlier this month that financial aid would be resumed. EFE
ib-ll/sc
