Kosovo's ruling The Vetevendosje party was on track to win the country's parliamentary elections, but it is necessary to negotiate a coalition with other parties to form a government, exit votes and preliminary results show Ta.
With 73% of the vote counted, Prime Minister Alvin Kurti's left-wing self-determination movement party, or Vett Ebendge, had scored 41.99%.
The election results will be a decrease from the 50% or more won in 2021. But it places Kurti in the position of leading the next government of the country where politics is controlled by relations with neighboring Serbs and Serbs within the border.
During the election campaign, Kurti appears to have ruled out the formation of a coalition, saying he would not join the government unless he wins a full majority.
However, after declaring victory, Kurti said late Sunday that he would form a new government without hinting that could become a potential coalition partner.
“We are the first party to create the next government and the victory party,” Kurti told reporters. “We'll continue to finish what we started.”
Kurti's party called supporters to head out into the streets to celebrate.
Kosovo's election commission said the software is down and the full results cannot be published on Sunday as data is collected manually and it will be released early on Monday.
“I apologize to all Kosovo citizens,” said the Election Commission's Klenik Radniki Committee.
The Kosovo Federation (LDK) of the opposition Democratic Federation has recognized Vetevendosje's victory. Its leader, Rumir Abdiksik, said Vetevendosje was number one with a 39.08% vote, according to LDK's own vote count.
Three exit polls gave Kurti between 37% and 40.04% of votes.
Kurti, an Albanian nationalist, came to power in 2021 when the Vetevendosje Party-run coalition received more than 50% of the votes and secured a seven-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament.
Kosovo, the latest country in Europe, gained independence from Serbia in 2008 after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Serbian forces in 1999.
According to political analysts, Kurti's popularity was strengthened by a move to expand government control of Kosovo's Serbian Majority North. However, critics say he has failed to provide education and health services, and his policies have kept Kosovo away from traditional allies, the European Union and the United States.
The EU placed the economic curb in the country in 2023 to strip tensions with ethnic Serbs and cut at least 150 million euros ($155 million), Reuters found .
Centre Light LDK has campaigned to restore relations between the US and the EU and join NATO.
Kurti's government has won several victories. Unemployment rates have shrunk from 30% to about 10%, minimum wages have risen, and last year the economy has grown faster than the West Balkans average.
The election campaign is being criticized. Election complaints and appeals panels monitoring party and candidate complaints have been fined for a fine of more than 650,000 euros this election season, three times the tally for 2021, and data from data from NGO Democracy in Action. I've done it.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
