Kosovo goes to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections, marking the third national vote in just 18 months amid a prolonged political crisis. The repeated elections follow a period in which the country has lacked a functioning government for large portions of the last year as successive parliaments were unable to agree on leadership appointments.
Analysts cited by observers expect Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje party to again emerge as the largest force, though no recent opinion polls are available. In the previous election in December, Vetevendosje won 51.1% of the vote, up from 42% in the February 2025 vote. Despite that increase, the party and others failed to agree on a candidate for the largely ceremonial presidency, a stalemate that led to parliament being dissolved in April and the call for another snap ballot.
The presidency in Kosovo requires a two-thirds parliamentary majority to elect a new head of state, a threshold that will obligate Kurti’s party to strike a compromise with opposition groups if it seeks to conclude the current impasse. Observers note the requirement for broad agreement as a structural hurdle that has contributed directly to the cycle of dissolutions and repeat elections.
The European Union has urged Kosovo’s political leaders to build robust institutions capable of implementing reforms needed for EU accession. Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, maintains an orientation toward Western partners across the political spectrum, and Kurti’s Vetevendosje has presented a nationalist and welfare-focused agenda since first taking power in 2021. The party also opposes further concessions to Serbia, leaving relations between the two nations strained.
Election authorities report that more than 900 candidates across 17 parties and three coalition groups are contesting seats in the 120-seat parliament. The voter registry lists about 2.1 million registered voters, a figure notably higher than Kosovo’s resident population of roughly 1.6 million due to a sizable diaspora concentrated mostly in western Europe. The diaspora is known to be an important electoral constituency and tends to favour Kurti’s party.
This round of voting will test whether a clearer political alignment can be achieved or whether the pattern of fragmented parliaments and repeated ballots will continue. For now, Kosovo’s immediate challenge remains the translation of electoral results into a parliamentary majority able to elect the president and restore a fully functioning government capable of advancing the reforms tied to European integration.