Elections in Kosovo/ Counting of votes for candidates for deputies ends

2025-02-22 15:42:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Central Election Commission (CEC) in Kosovo has completed the counting of votes for candidates for deputies from all polling stations in Kosovo, as well as the verification of votes for political subjects.

Kosovo held regular parliamentary elections on February 9.

Under the new Election Law, the votes of the candidates for MPs are counted separately in the Municipal Counting Centers. This process has started late, while election monitoring organizations have criticized the CEC itself for not being sufficiently prepared for the process.

The counting of conditional votes, votes of people with special needs and over 80 thousand votes from the diaspora is expected to begin in the coming days. After the publication of 99.96 percent of the results on the CEC website, the current Prime Minister, Albin Kurti of the Vetëvendosje Movement – ??who is running for a second term – won the most votes on February 9 – 290,729.

Among the five most voted people in this party, after Kurti, are: Glauk Konjufca, Faton Peci, Hekuran Murati and Albulena Haxhiu.

The Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) – the ruling party – came first in these elections, with 40.90 percent of the vote, followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) with 22.03 percent of the vote, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 17.64 percent of the vote, the coalition between the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and the Social Democratic Initiative with 7.46 percent of the vote, and the Serbian List with 4.60 percent of the vote.

The five most voted people from the ranks of the PDK are: Bedri Hamza, Memli Krasniqi, Uran Ismaili, Vora Çitaku and Sala Jashari. In the five of the LDK, the order is this: Lumir Abdixhiku, Doarsa Kica - Xhelili, Hykmete Bajrami, Kujtim Shala and Avdullah Hoti. In the coalition between AAK and Nisma, the five most voted figures are: Ramush Haradinaj, Daut Haradinaj, Fatmir Limaj, Bekë Berisha and Time Kadriaj.

As for the Serbian List, Branislav Nikolic is at the top of the list, followed by Ljiljana Stefanovic, Srdjan Popovic, Slavko Simic and Igor Simic. The leader of the Serbian List – the largest Serb party in Kosovo – Zlatan Ellek, is ranked seventh in terms of the number of votes won.

Turnout in this year's elections was 40 percent - about 8 percent lower than in the 2021 elections. The most voted person in Kosovo continues to be the current President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, who won 300,756 votes in the 2021 elections.

The Vetevendosje Movement, which has secured the most votes in this election process, has pledged to form the new Government, although with the current results, it does not have 61 MPs to approve the new government cabinet. Political analysts have mentioned the possibility of LVV joining forces with the non-Serb communities, which have 10 guaranteed seats in the Assembly.

The opposition parties, PDK, LDK, and AAK, have rejected the possibility of forming a coalition with LVV and have expressed their willingness to form a government together. Political experts warn that in the coming days and weeks, Kosovo risks facing political turbulence, due to the deepening divisions between the ruling party and those in the opposition./ REL