Kosovo votes in early parliamentary elections Sunday


Today, Kosovo votes in early parliamentary elections, the fourth held ahead of the regular date since 2010 and another which is unlikely to produce a stable government.

The last time the former Serbian province with a majority Albanian population elected parliament after its full term was in 2007.

The election was this time triggered by the resignation of outgoing Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj in July, over a subpoena to testify on war crimes at a new international tribunal.

But even before that, the main political parties had been fighting over virtually every key issue, including on how to proceed in the EU-brokered, long-stalled normalization talks with Serbia.

In the run for the 120 seats in parliament are 20 parties, four coalitions and a single independent candidate; the combined tickets comprise 1,060 names.

The three largest parties – the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), President Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and Vetevendosje (Self-determination) – are all running alone.

The other two major parties stemming from the ethnic Albanian community are grouped in two coalitions: one lined up behind Haradinaj’s Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and the New Alliance for Kosovo (AKR).

One hundred of the 120 seats in parliament are up for grabs, and the remaining 20 are reserved for ethnic communities, including the restive Kosovo Serbs, who have half of those seats.

The next government will almost certainly have to be built on a coalition, and, as in the past, hard negotiations between hostile partners are expected to drag on.

Virtually all of the major Albanian sides have ruled out a coalition with Thaci’s PDK even before the elections.

According to local observers, a coalition of the LDK and Vetevendosje is the most likely core of the future government.

There are 1,937,869 registered voters, which is more than the nation’s population, which stood at 1.83 million in 2017.

The difference can only partially be explained by the large Kosovo Albanian ex-patriate community. It also hints at a poorly maintained voter register, which the opposition says leaves the door open to manipulation.