On December 28, voters in Kosovo were called to vote for a new parliament for the second time in just ten months. During this time, Kosovars have witnessed real political theater - and they are already tired of it.
28-year-old student Liridon Spahiu told DW that he is actually interested in politics. "We have to be interested - whether we want to or not." However, he believes that things cannot continue as they have been: "In recent months, we have all been wondering what will eventually happen to this country".
Endless blockade
In the parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025, the left-wing nationalist party "Self-Determination", which had ruled until then with an absolute majority, received only 42 percent of the vote. The center-right bloc, which included the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Democratic League of Kosovo, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, won 46 percent. The remaining votes were divided among the country's minorities.
Neither "Self-Determination" nor the center-right bloc won a majority of 61 seats in Kosovo's 120-seat parliament, but as the stronger faction, Prime Minister Albin Kurti's "Self-Determination" was given the right to nominate a candidate for speaker of the National Assembly. However, it took more than six months, more than 50 votes, and a decision by the Constitutional Court before Dimal Basha, who also received some votes from the center-right bloc, was elected to this position at the end of August.
"The interests of citizens are secondary"
The speaker of the parliament in Kosovo is a key figure on whom the political processes after the elections depend, since he alone sets the agenda, respectively the work of the parliament. Attempts to form a majority government began at the end of August, but Albin Kurti's negotiations with the opposition were not crowned with success. Repeated talks with President Vjosa Osmani did not help either. And on November 20, she had no other option but to dissolve the parliament and schedule new elections for December 28.
According to Kosovo political scientist Donika Emini, it has become “quite clear that the interests of the country and citizens play a secondary role for the political elite“. She told DW: “It is important for the parties to show political maturity, demonstrating their readiness to form a governing coalition“. Still, the political scientist harbors some hope for change – in recent weeks, Kurti and “Self-Determination“ have been more decisive, which, in her opinion, could mean an end to the stalemate.
One of the poorest countries in Europe
The past year has indeed been lost for Kosovo due to the political stalemate – in a situation where the country urgently needs social, economic and legal reforms. The youngest country in Europe is among the poorest on the continent. Officially, unemployment is 25 percent, but it is even higher among the younger generation. About a fifth of the population lives below the poverty line, there is no universal health insurance system, and education lacks qualified personnel and equipment. All of this has led to a mass emigration of young people from the country in recent years, and the trend remains unchanged.
Financial transfers from the diaspora abroad, on which Kosovo depends very heavily, have formed between 12 and 18 percent of GDP in the last decade, and in 2024 they were 13 percent. Due to the political stalemate, the EU's stimulus funds in the amount of 820 million euros cannot be used. The 2026 budget could not be adopted, nor could legal reforms and important economic laws be approved.
A legitimate but clumsy "sovereignty policy"
Added to this is the complicated situation in the conflict with Serbia. For years, the EU has been insisting that Kosovo reach a "compromise", which, however, contains conditions that are partially unacceptable to the country, such as the creation of a collective status for the Serbian minority. Many Kosovo politicians believe that this could lead to a long-term blockade of their country by Belgrade, since the organizations and institutions of the Serbian minority are controlled by the Serbian government.
For years, Prime Minister Kurti and his party have been pursuing a "sovereignty policy" towards this minority, aimed primarily at removing Belgrade's influence in the northern part of Kosovo. Kurti's fundamentally legitimate policy, however, was confrontational and clumsy. In the end, he and his government turned out to be the black sheep in the conflict with Serbia, and Kosovo was sanctioned in an absurd way - not least because the EU did not want to risk a conflict with Serbia.
Only recently did the EU announce that it would release frozen funds for Kosovo. The reason: after the local elections in October 2025, the municipalities in the northern part of the country were once again headed by mayors from the Belgrade-led party “Serbian List“, which boycotted the local elections in 2023.
Discontent and expectations
As Nui Aslani, a 65-year-old pensioner from Pristina, told DW on the eve of the elections: “We are all dissatisfied – how could we not be?“. He does not believe that the upcoming elections will lead to change and for the better. “The blockade will probably continue”, he suggests. 50-year-old businessman Nazmi Gashi gives advice to politicians for the time after the elections: “The results are not the most important – the important thing is to realize that unity must be achieved“.
Liridon Spahiu also hopes that the parties will realize the political fatigue of the voters: "People no longer want to see the ego of politicians, but work, commitment to the country and a better life for all of us".
Author: Vyosha Cherkini