OPINION - Kosovo's Dec. 28 parliamentary elections: Coalition or stability?

Kosovo's Dec. 28 elections were called after political parties failed to form a stable governing coalition following the Feb. 9, 2025, elections. Although the Vetevendosje Movement, led by Albin Kurti, won 42.3% of the vote, it was unable to form a government. Attempts to persuade the opposition parties, namely the Democratic League of Kosovo (led by Lumir Abdixhiku), the Democratic Party of Kosovo (then led by Memli Krasniqi, now by Bedri Hamza), and Ramush Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, failed, resulting in institutional gridlock and the decision to call new elections on Dec. 28.

- Polarization and political language

These elections represent a moment of particular importance for the political progress and institutional stability of the Republic of Kosovo. They take place in a context of deep political polarization, in which public discourse and political language have become significantly more rigid, making it difficult to build consensus and inter-party cooperation. Unofficial results from the Dec. 28 elections show Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje raising its vote share to 49.62%.

In terms of state consolidation in Kosovo, it is necessary to have a government with political stability, as this is essential for the newest state in Europe to continue expanding its sovereignty and state power. On the other hand, experience and political precedents in Kosovo show that forms of government built on two- or multi-party coalitions have failed to ensure long-term institutional stability. In many cases, these coalitions have proven fragile and unstable, based more on temporary compromises than on a shared vision of governance.

A significant example is the period after the 2019 elections, in which the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) formed a governing coalition. This collaboration produced a government characterized by political instability, driven not only by ideological differences, but also by inconsistencies in values, priorities, and approaches to governance and the national interest. As a result, the coalition disintegrated in a relatively short period, from Feb. 3, 2020 to March 25, 2020, further deepening the institutional crisis.

In this sense, the Dec. 28 elections are not simply a routine electoral process, but a serious test of the political maturity of political actors and of the state-building and state-forming capacity of Kosovo's political system to deliver stability, institutional functionality, and effective governance in a climate of deep polarization.

- Sovereignty politics

Because politics in Kosovo is not structured entirely ideologically according to the classic division into left and right parties, but rather according to the sovereignist-globalist axis, clashes between political parties also take place mainly on this issue. This division reflects the historical and political reality of Kosovo's state-building, where the issue of sovereignty has carried and continues to carry greater weight than traditional debates over economic or social policies.

This is evident in decisions and solutions regarding issues that affect the sovereignty of Kosovo, such as the project to associate municipalities with a Serb majority in the territory of Kosovo or even international tendencies to prevent the institutions of the Kosovo from extending power towards North Mitrovica, an area that, institutionally, until the intervention of the Kurti Government, did not recognize the authority of the state institutions of Pristina but was increasingly oriented toward its connection with Belgrade.

In this context, the extension of the power of the government of Kosovo throughout its territory, as well as the international pressure to fulfill the condition of the association of Serbian municipalities, have polarized both the internal situation and the broader situation regarding Albanians in the Balkans, where Albanian political factors in Tirana and Skopje have aligned themselves against the sovereignist and nationalist approach of Albin Kurti. From this perspective, the Vetevendosje Movement's convincing victory does not seem surprising, because Kosovo and its people have always tended to vote for state strengthening and consolidation. In this direction, the Kurti Government has oriented all its capacities and electoral rhetoric. In this perspective, the people responded by voting for him massively and giving him a chance to govern alone as a party of Kosovo Albanians, adding here also the minority parties except for the Srpska List, which Albin Kurti considers a party that represents the interests of Belgrade in Pristina.

- The President vote ahead

The approach or trajectory in relation to the foreign policy of the Republic of Kosovo is unlikely to change from the traditional foreign policy of Kosovo, which portrays the US and the EU as strategic partners, but with a very serious metamorphosis that has to do with issues of national interest and strategy, an aspect where the Kosovar opposition has moved to the secondary order of their political strategy, which focuses on close cooperation with strategic partners until the completion of the association of municipalities with a Serbian majority.

The day of voting in the parliamentary elections in Kosovo is as historic as it is fateful for the future of this state. In this case, the people of Kosovo affirmed their sovereignty by endorsing a state that extends its jurisdiction to every corner of the republic. The next challenge in this continuity will be the elections for the position of president of Kosovo, a position that requires a special commitment to consensus from all political entities.

*The author is an international relations expert.