Published: June 08, 2026, 04:48 UTC

Kosovo holds third election in 16 months as political deadlock deepens

Kosovans went to the polls on Sunday for the third general election in less than 18 months, the latest symptom of a political crisis that has paralyzed the youngest country in the Balkans and stalled its path toward European Union and NATO membership.

The election was triggered by the Assembly’s failure to elect a new president by a March deadline. Under Kosovo’s constitution, the president requires 80 votes in the 120-seat parliament — a supermajority threshold that no single party has been able to reach since the crisis began.

When the deadline passed, former President Vjosa Osmani, whose term had expired, issued a decree dissolving parliament and calling a snap election. Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje party challenged the decree before the Constitutional Court, which suspended it temporarily before ultimately allowing the vote to proceed.

A cycle of failed governments

The first election in this cycle took place in February 2025 and was inconclusive. Kurti’s party won the most votes but could not build a governing coalition, leaving the country without a functioning government for much of last year. A second election in December 2025 produced a similar result: Kurti’s party held a clear parliamentary majority, but the opposition again blocked efforts to elect a president.

With every failed vote, Kosovo’s institutions have drifted deeper into paralysis. The country has not had a fully functioning government for the better part of 18 months. International funds from the EU remain frozen because there is no stable government to negotiate with.

“Enough is enough,” Gezim Selimi, a retired teacher, told AFP after voting in Pristina. “I expect parties to finally come to their senses and work for Kosovo, instead of wasting time fighting for power through one snap election after another.”

What Sunday’s vote showed

Preliminary results from Sunday’s election show Kurti’s Vetevendosje party leading with around 42 percent of the vote — roughly in line with its performance in December. The opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) took about 21 percent, followed by Osmani’s Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with roughly 17 percent.

But the result does not give Kurti the supermajority he needs to govern alone or to elect a president. Difficult coalition talks lie ahead, with the same political forces that have been unable to reach a compromise over the past 18 months.

Turnout was 36.88 percent, down more than 10 percentage points from the December election. The low figure suggests growing voter fatigue and disillusionment with a political class that has failed repeatedly to deliver stable government.

The wider stakes

The crisis in Pristina matters well beyond Kosovo’s borders. The country declared independence from Serbia in 2008, following the 1998-99 war that ended with a NATO bombing campaign. More than 100 countries, including the United States and most EU members, recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty. Serbia, backed by Russia and China, does not.

Both Kosovo and Serbia have been told they must normalize relations to advance their EU membership bids. But with no stable government in Pristina, the EU-brokered dialogue with Belgrade has stalled. Tensions in Kosovo’s north, where most of the ethnic Serbian minority lives, remain dangerously high.

European Council President Antonio Costa visited Pristina last week and urged the country’s political leaders to end the impasse. “Europe needs a stable Kosovo,” Costa told reporters.

Kurti, a left-wing nationalist who has governed since 2021, has been accused by the opposition of seeking to concentrate power and sideline rival institutions. Osmani, once Kurti’s ally, turned against him after he refused to support her bid for a second term as president. Their personal feud has become the central driver of the institutional paralysis.

The irony is stark. Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe, with an economy hit hard by the global energy crisis and rising fuel prices. The political class spends its energy on internal power struggles while living standards stagnate and integration with the West remains out of reach.

The EU has made clear there will be no shortcuts. Brussels will not negotiate accession with a country that cannot elect a president or form a stable government. And NATO, which bombed Serbia in 1999 to stop ethnic cleansing and has maintained a peacekeeping force in Kosovo ever since, will not fast-track membership for a country in perpetual political crisis.

Sunday’s results are unlikely to break the cycle. The same parties will return to the same negotiating table, facing the same constitutional obstacles, with the same leader — Kurti — still short of the 80 votes he needs to end the impasse.

Kosovo’s third election in 16 months changes nothing unless the country’s political leaders decide to change themselves. There is little evidence they are ready to do so.