Kurti Claims Win, Serb List Keeps All 10 Seats
Preliminary results put Kurti's Self-Determination at about 50 percent, while the Serb List holds on to all 10 seats reserved for the Serb community.
- With roughly 95 percent of ballots counted, preliminary CEC figures put Self-Determination in front at 49.83 percent.
- The Serb List won 31,846 votes, or 3.80 percent, enough to keep all 10 seats reserved for the Serb community.
- Turnout came in around 45 percent, with early turnout in the Serb-majority north among the highest in the country.
- Some 2,092,174 voters were eligible, in the third parliamentary election in a year and a half.
At Kosovo’s third snap parliamentary election in a year and a half, Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination movement (Vetevendosje) holds a commanding lead in the preliminary results released by the Central Election Commission. With about 95 percent of ballots processed, Self-Determination stands at 49.83 percent, while the Serb List retains all 10 seats guaranteed to the Serb community in the 120-member Assembly.
Caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti declared victory the same day. There is a great deal of work ahead and we must move forward without delay, he said. Trailing behind are the Democratic Party of Kosovo with 21.14 percent, the Democratic League of Kosovo with 13.80 percent and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo with 5.76 percent. Twenty-one political entities fielded a combined 902 candidates for the 120 seats, with 2,092,174 voters eligible across 949 polling centers.
What does the result mean for Kosovo Serbs?
From the Serbian point of view, the decisive number is the Serb List’s score. The list took 31,846 votes, or 3.80 percent, enough to claim all 10 seats the constitutional framework reserves for the Serb community. Serb List leader Zlatan Elek confirmed as much. Based on these results, the Serb List holds all 10 parliamentary seats, he said.
Holding on to the full bloc of 10 seats means the Serb community enters the new parliament with its legislative weight intact. That matters all the more as Kurti’s majority consolidates, because the reserved seats remain the only secure channel through which Serb representatives can shape the Assembly’s work. The open question is how the incoming government will treat those seats, and the dialogue with Belgrade.
How high was turnout, and how did Serb areas vote?
Turnout, according to preliminary data, was around 45 percent. The observer coalition Democracy in Action put it at 44.1 percent, noting that conditional ballots and diaspora votes had not yet been tallied, which could shift the final figure slightly. The level of participation is in line with the average of recent election cycles in Kosovo.
In the Serb-majority north, early turnout was among the highest in the country. By 9:30 a.m. it stood at 10.67 percent in North Mitrovica, 10.13 percent in Zvecan, 7.94 percent in Novo Brdo and 6.06 percent in Zubin Potok. The figures show that Serb voters mobilized early, which ultimately translated into the preserved bloc of seats.
A third election in a year and a half is itself a measure of the instability of Kosovo’s political scene. Now that Kurti holds a commanding mandate and the Serb List keeps an unchanged 10 deputies, the focus shifts from counting votes to forming a government, and to how the new majority will handle the position of the Serb community. Will this outcome calm the north, or open a fresh round of tension?
