Foreign media have reported on Kosovo’s elections this Sunday!
Reuters writes, “Kosovo’s ruling party, Vetëvendosje, is on track to win first place in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, but it will need to negotiate a coalition with other parties to form a government, according to an exit poll.
The election results mark a decline from over 50% won by Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s party in 2021. However, it places him in a position to lead the next government in a country where politics are dominated by relations with neighboring Serbia and the Serb minority within its borders.”
BBC writes: “Kosovo’s ruling party is on track to win the most votes in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, but it does not have a majority of seats, according to an exit poll.”
The Associated Press writes: “Kosovars cast their votes on Sunday in parliamentary elections considered a key test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti, as talks on normalizing relations with rival Serbia remain stalled and foreign funding for one of Europe’s poorest countries is in question. Voting concluded at 7 p.m. local time without any problems that would have compromised its integrity, according to Central Election Commission official Valmir Elezi. Results are expected before midnight.”
Euroactiv writes: “After Sunday’s elections, stalled talks on normalizing relations between Kosovo and neighboring Serbia could see a revival, but not more easily.
Exit polls showed that Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s party, Vetëvendosje, is in first place, with 38.2% of votes on Sunday, losing ground from 50% in 2021.
Kurti, a left-wing nationalist from Kosovo, entered Sunday’s elections as the frontrunner, but was not expected to secure an outright majority in the 120-seat national assembly.
Vetëvendosje, on its way to securing first place, will have to negotiate with potential coalition partners to form the next government.
Among the main opposition parties, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which belongs to the liberal party family and whose key leaders are accused of war crimes at the Hague, will come in second place with 22.4% of the votes.
The center-right Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), which campaigned for restoring ties with the US and EU, was polled at 20.1%.
A Beograd-Pristina Revival?
Kurti’s first term was the first in Kosovo’s history to complete a full governmental cycle. It was marked by increased tensions between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the north of the country.
Tensions escalated after EU and US-backed peace talks between Pristina and Belgrade temporarily failed in March 2023, with many opponents blaming Kurti’s hardline approach.
This also led to Western sanctions against Kosovo in July 2023.
Despite some achievements under previous EU leadership, dialogue had mainly returned to a series of separate meetings.
EU diplomats Josep Borrell and special representative Miroslav Lajčák were forced to meet separately with Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić as both refused to sit together.
The EU had asked Kosovo to establish an association of Serbian municipalities to allow greater self-governance for Serbs. However, fearing a breakaway, Kurti rejected the proposal and has largely moved to further limit the autonomy of Serbs in the north of the country.
While the EU’s new chief diplomat, Kallas, met with both leaders in December, EU officials said that the first official round of talks under the EU-mediated dialogue was postponed until after the elections in Kosovo.
No date has yet been set for a new round of talks.
EU diplomats, however, hope that Kallas and the EU’s new special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Peter Sørensen, will be able to break the current deadlock. Sørensen, a Danish diplomat, has three decades of experience working in the Western Balkans.
Trump’s “Special Mission”
The real wild card will be how the new US administration positions itself in the Western Balkans, as Kurti’s relations with the first Trump administration were not ideal.
This time, they are likely to worsen as the new US president has appointed Richard Grenell, former US envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, as his new presidential special envoy for missions.
Grenell, who in his previous role was accused of pressuring Kurti to accept a peace deal favorable to Serbia, has already shown that his line toward Kosovo has not changed.
“Both Republicans and Democrats have consistently criticized Kurti for taking unilateral actions that destabilize the region. So have the EU and NATO,” Grenell wrote recently on X.
Tensions in the region may also rise as Grenell believes that former Kosovo president Hashim Thaçi, who is in detention in The Hague awaiting a verdict for war crimes committed during the Kosovo independence war against Serbia, is a “political prisoner.”
