Kosovo held parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025, with a turnout of approximately 40%, lower than the 2021 elections. Over 2 million citizens were eligible to vote.
The Vetëvendosje Movement, led by Albin Kurti, emerged as the leading party in the parliamentary elections, but is likely to need to negotiate a coalition with other parties to form the next government for the four-year term. According to the Central Election Commission, which counted about 90% of the votes, the Vetëvendosje Movement, with Albin Kurti as its candidate for prime minister, won 41.29% of the vote, followed by the Democratic Party with 22.68%, the Democratic League with 17.9%, and the coalition around the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo with 7.56%.
Addressing his supporters who were celebrating the victory in the main square of the capital, Kurti said, "We will continue the good work we started in the last four years and we will do much more work, in accordance with our promises, from one end of Kosovo to the other."
"The elections were free, democratic and fair. I thank all the voters of the Vetëvendosje Movement, of our winning coalition with the Guxo party and the Alternative party. So we are first and this is a confirmation of our good, democratic and progressive governance. Our winning coalition will form the new government, so Kurti 3, and in this way we will continue the work we have started, but also many new things," said Kurti.
Shortly after the end of the voting, when the CEC was supposed to release preliminary results, there was a failure of the electronic data display system and, according to the CEC chairman, Kreshnik Radoniqi, they were forced to count the votes manually. Following the software failure to display the results, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani called for the integrity of the electoral process to be protected, ensuring that every vote is counted accurately. "The President will continue to be in contact with all relevant institutions until the full assurance that the entire electoral process, including the counting and publication of the results, is carried out in accordance with the highest democratic standards and in accordance with the will of the citizens," the president's statement said.
The second party in the Sunday elections was the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and according to the campaign manager Blerand Stavileci, this is a great and undeniable success. "PDK has achieved a great result, it has been confirmed as the second largest force in the country with over 200,000 votes. We thank the citizens who voted for PDK. This is an undeniable success for us and a strong message for us. The majority of citizens have turned their backs on this government, as they do not have the majority. The results show that citizens are asking for a new government," said Stavileci, adding that "as for coalitions, we have to wait for the finalization of the results."
The leader of the LDK, Lumir Abdixhiku, for his part, said that his party came in third in these elections and he takes responsibility for the not-so-good result that he did not expect. "LDK expects to win around 190,000 votes from this electoral process. It should be around 20%, when the diaspora votes are also counted. It is a result that we respect and I take responsibility for this result," said Mr. Abdixhiku at a press conference.
However, according to the CEC, the elections took place in a calm atmosphere, no incidents were reported, while the turnout was lower than in the last elections of 2021, when the turnout was 48%. In these elections, over 2 million citizens were eligible to vote, while about 790,000 citizens voted, which translates to just over 40%. Over 940 polling stations were open on Sunday, while over 100 from the European Union and 18 from the Council of Europe joined the other domestic and international observers.
Elections were also held in the northern part of Kosovo inhabited by a Serb majority, where, according to the CEC, turnout was slightly higher than in other areas of Kosovo. Ten of the 120 seats in the Kosovo parliament are reserved for parties of the Serb community, while ten others are for other minority communities. Observers of the political situation said that these elections saw a greater democratic pluralism among Kosovo Serbs.