The Vetevendosje party, of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, is in first place in the parliamentary elections in Kosovo, according to the partial results announced by the electoral authorities, informs Reuters.
Vetevendosje scored 42.3% after 54.9% of the votes were counted. Although it remains the country's leading party, Albin Kurti's party is on course to lose if the final count shows a similar score.
Kurti's party won 51.1 percent of the vote in the last election in December, up from 42 percent in February 2025, but failed to agree with other parties on a presidential candidate, who has a largely ceremonial role, leading to the dissolution of parliament in April and new snap elections.
This is the third election in the past 18 months, held because no party has been able to secure a solid enough majority to lead the Balkan country out of political crisis.
Europe's youngest nation aspires to join the European Union but has been without a functioning government for much of the past year as its divided legislature has failed to elect a parliament speaker or a new head of state.
Kurti's party came to power for the first time in 2021 with a nationalist and welfare-focused agenda. Like all parties in Kosovo, it has a pro-Western orientation. It also opposes further concessions to Serbia, with which relations remain strained.
There are about 2.1 million registered voters – a larger number than Kosovo's resident population of 1.6 million, thanks to a large diaspora, mainly settled in Western Europe, which tends to support Kurti's party.
