Political crisis: third elections in a year and a half in Kosovo
Prime Minister Albin Kurti starts as the favorite, but polls say he will have to make a deal with the opposition to unblock the election of the president
BarcelonaKosovo is holding legislative elections again this Sunday, the third in just 18 months, after no party has been able to obtain a sufficiently solid majority to pull the Balkan country out of its political crisis. The youngest and one of the poorest countries in Europe, aspiring to join the European Union (EU), does not have an operational government, and this has delayed reforms and the arrival of expected European funds.
Although no recent opinion polls have been conducted, analysts predict a new victory for the Vetevendosje party, led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, but he will still need to negotiate with the opposition to achieve the two-thirds majority to elect a new president. In the elections, Kurti's party obtained 51.1% of the votes, up from 42% in February 2025, but failed to agree with the other parties on a candidate for the presidency, a largely institutional role. The deadlock triggered the dissolution of Parliament in April and the call for new early elections.
Speaking in front of an electoral college in the capital, Pristina, Kurti called for high turnout. “I hope that the people of Kosovo will once again show their maturity, as always, with a very high turnout. And, on the other hand, I hope that we, as politicians, will serve them better and better,” he said.
Economic discontent
Kosovars are eager for the political deadlock to end, while demanding higher wages and more affordable products to benefit from a growing economy. “The political class must be willing to reach an agreement. In recent years, a very deep division has been created, and that must end,” a voter, Fatos Selimi, told Reuters.
The EU has urged Kosovo’s politicians – which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the support of the United States and the EU – to create strong institutions capable of driving the necessary reforms to join the bloc.
Kurti’s party first came to power in 2021 with a more nationalist and welfare-state-focused agenda. Like all of Kosovo’s parties, it has a pro-Western orientation. It also opposes making further concessions to Serbia, with whom relations remain tense. There are about 2.1 million registered voters, a figure higher than the 1.6 million inhabitants residing in Kosovo due to the large diaspora, mainly established in Western Europe, which tends to support Kurti’s party.
