The ruling party in Kosovo wins the election but loses the majority

Preliminary results on Monday indicated that although the incumbent Vetevendosje party of Kosovo ran top in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it did not secure the absolute majority required to govern without coalition partners.

Despite a decline in support from a 2021 vote, the outcome positions Prime Minister Albin Kurti to head the next administration in the small Balkan nation where relations with Serbia and Serbs living there dominate politics.

Kurti, an Albanian nationalist and socialist, is set to lead a government that will continue its plans to expand its grip over the northern region, which is home to some 50,000 ethnic Serbs, many of whom do not accept Kosovo’s 2008 independence from Serbia.

This is troubling to moderates who worry that the ethnic violence that has plagued the area recently will recur.

Election commission statistics revealed that Vetevendosje received 41.3% of the vote with 88% of the ballots tallied, compared to almost 50% in the 2021 poll that put a coalition led by Vetevendosje in power. Second with 21.8% was the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, followed by the Democratic League of Kosovo party with 17.8%.

In the capital Pristina, Kurti informed supporters that the Vetevendosje movement had won the February 9, 2025, elections. The masses were displaying Albanian flags, banging drums, and displaying fireworks. “Preliminary results show one true, exact and clear thing,” Kurti said.

However, Kurti denigrated possible coalition partners in the same address, calling the opposition “animals” and “thieves” who were prepared to strike a deal “with the devil” against his administration.

Kurti declared he would not rule in a coalition during a contentious election campaign in which fines for misbehavior tripled compared to the 2021 elections.

Reuters was informed by Belgzim Kamberi, a political analyst based in Pristina, that Kurti would either need to reach an agreement with a second or third party or let the opposition form the next administration.

“Kosovo has entered into an institutional instability,” stated the politician.

Kosovo, the newest and poorest country in Europe, is mostly an Albanian nation. The United States supported its 2008 independence from Serbia following a 78-day NATO air operation against Serbian forces in 1999.

Throughout the election campaign, there were discussions about crime, corruption, health, and education, but the situation in the north, where Kurti’s efforts to limit the autonomy of ethnic Serbs have heightened tensions and distanced the region from the US and the EU, loomed large.

Reuters discovered that the EU canceled at least 150 million euros ($155 million) in financing to the nation in 2023 for its involvement in the conflicts.