# Kurti’s Party Wins Kosovo Vote but Still Faces Negotiation Test to Form Government
*Event date: 2025-12-28*
By IO Digest Desk
Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje party emerged as the clear winner of Kosovo’s December 28, 2025 snap election, but the result did not immediately end the political deadlock that had paralyzed the country’s institutions for a year. With most ballots counted, Kurti’s nationalist party was leading with about 50 percent of the vote, strong enough to dominate the field yet still short of certainty that it could govern alone in the 120-seat assembly.
Al Jazeera reported that preliminary figures pointed to roughly 56 seats for Vetevendosje, leaving the party below the 61 needed for an outright majority. Kurti responded by calling for quick institution-building and invited opposition parties to cooperate in the assembly. The appeal reflected a central tension in the result: voters handed Kurti the strongest mandate in the contest, but not a decisive parliamentary solution.
The election was Kosovo’s second national vote of the year after Vetevendosje failed to secure a majority in February. The repeated balloting followed months in which parliament was effectively frozen and important financing decisions were delayed. Analysts cited by Al Jazeera said Kurti might still be able to form a government with help from minority parties, but the arithmetic left uncertainty over whether he could avoid a broader coalition or another period of bargaining.
That uncertainty matters because Kosovo faces a compressed political timetable. Lawmakers must elect a new president in April and ratify 1 billion euros in loan agreements from the European Union and World Bank before those arrangements expire in the coming months. Failure to reopen parliament and build a cabinet would therefore extend the constitutional impasse into a period of financial and diplomatic risk.
The opposition’s stance remains a major obstacle. Kosovo’s Democratic Party and Democratic League were reported at 20.7 percent and 14 percent respectively, but both have criticized Kurti’s handling of relations with Western allies and his approach to the ethnically divided north, where many Serbs live. Al Jazeera said opposition parties had refused to govern with him, making even a numerically modest coalition potentially difficult.
The broader backdrop is a state still trying to stabilize politically and economically. Kosovo, with a population of about 1.6 million, has long struggled with poverty, instability and organized crime despite international support. Kurti’s current term, which began in 2021, was notable because it was the first time a government in Pristina had completed a full term. But even that milestone did not prevent a return to gridlock in 2025.
Kosovo’s regional position adds another layer of pressure. The country declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and has been recognized by more than 100 countries, though not by Serbia, Russia, Greece or Spain. Tensions with Serbia flared in 2023 and led the European Union to impose sanctions, which the bloc now says it plans to lift. Against that backdrop, the December vote gave Kurti a political edge, but not an easy path. The outcome suggested that Kosovo’s electorate still sees him as the central figure in national politics, while also signaling that any durable government will require deals he has so far struggled to secure.
