PristinaThe polling stations in Kosovo closed at seven in the evening, and at that time only two incidents related to voting had been registered in the whole country: the arrest of five Serbian citizens who tried to cross the border illegally – among them a former soldier of the Serbian army – and the arrest of another, accused of coercion and pressure. And at eight o’clock in the evening, 50% of the votes had already been counted. By then, the great advantage of the Albanian nationalist party Self-Determination (VV) was already clear, and its voters were already celebrating the victory in the streets because there was a 30% difference with the second most voted force.
The main parties competing in this electoral repeat in Kosovo were Self-Determination (VV), of Albin Kurti, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), in addition to the formations representing the country’s minorities, among which the Serbian List (LS) stands out, which was already known to obtain four seats which are those that, by law, correspond to this minority in Parliament.
At the Ilira school, in the municipality of Fushë Kosova, Genta, a 26-year-old woman, admitted that she had voted for Kurti’s party because of the options they had, it was the best. The girl said that she had tried to look for other matches with different visions, but she had not found any. “I feel that the VV has not done enough, but I think they are the only ones who will do something”, he added.
Political stagnation
These elections have come after months of political deadlock in the young Balkan country. Albin Kurti won last February with 48 of the 120 seats in Parliament, far from the 61 needed for a majority, and failed to close any deal to govern in a coalition or in a minority. The rest of the forces also failed to articulate an alternative.
Ten months later and after the failure of the attempts to form an executive, the electoral repeat was called. A situation that was compounded by the months when the VV was unable to appoint a valid parliamentary speaker, which kept the assembly deadlocked from March until last November, when Glauk Konjufca was elected Speaker of the Parliament after several failed attempts to form a government.
In this context and taking into account the Christmas dates, it is believed that Kurti has tried to get the vote of the diaspora, that is, of the Kosovars who have returned to the country coinciding with the holidays. And the strategy seems to have worked for him. With an electoral participation of 44%, Kosovars have given victory to their party: Albi Kurti won with 49% of the vote, and was less than 1% away from being able to govern alone. In the February elections, he did not get even 40% of the votes. “I think people were afraid that we would have the same scenario [del febrer] and that’s why they voted for Kurti, so that the blockade doesn’t happen again”, said the young voter.
The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) was far behind, with 21% of the votes, and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) only got 13%, while the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) got 5%. The rest of the votes are distributed between minor formations and minority parties.
Kurti therefore gets 55 seats out of 120 in the Kosovar Parliament, almost an absolute majority, but will still have to negotiate with non-majority community parties if he wants to get the 61 seats needed to govern and end the political deadlock. “Although Kurti may not make things better, I know he won’t make them worse,” concludes Diellza, a 30-year-old young artist. La Genta has the same opinion: “It’s the best out there”, he says.
In 2021 Kurti’s Self-Determination won because it was the party of hope and got the support of the youth. He then obtained the parliamentary majority. Now he has won again also with the support of young people, but because there is no alternative to support.
