The Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti's Self-Determination Movement is leading in the early parliamentary elections with 49.2% of the votes, results of vote counting from 48.3% of polling stations show.
This was reported by the Kosovo Online portal, citing data from the Central Election Commission (CEC) in Pristina.
According to the commission, by the time the polling stations closed at 7:00 p.m. local time, 890,859 people, or 44.6% of all voters, had voted. According to preliminary data from the Central election commission, the main rivals of the Kosovo prime minister's movement, the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic Union of Kosovo, received 20% and 14% of the vote, respectively.
The elections are early and were called after parliament failed to form a stable government for several months. The political crisis led to the dissolution of the legislature. However, experts do not rule out that forming a parliamentary majority after the current elections may require complex coalition negotiations.
The elections are particularly important for the Serb community, which holds 10 of the 120 seats in parliament. "Serb Lista", the largest Kosovo Serb party, was allowed to participate in the vote. On December 5, the agency handling election complaints overturned the decision of the Central Election Commission in Pristina and ordered the party to be registered after an investigation into its eligibility to participate in the elections.