PRISTINA (Kosovo), February 15 (SeeNews) – Kosovo's opposition Self-Determination Movement (VV) led by ousted former Prime Minister Albin Kurti is leading in the early general election held on February 14, having won close to half of the votes, preliminary results showed on Monday.
Boosted by its alliance with the Citizen List party led by acting president Vjosa Osmani, VV is leading with 48.17% of the votes, according to data released by the Central Election Commission based on 96.25% of the ballots counted.
Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) followed distant second with 17.35%, whereas the governing Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) came in third with 13.18%.
The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) followed with 7.42%, while the ethnic Serb party Serb List was fifth with 5.24% of the votes.
After the early results were announced, VV leader Kurti said that the election was a referendum on justice and employment, against corruption and state capture.
The future government needs to be endorsed by at least 61 members of Kosovo's 120-seat parliament.
In June, Kosovo’s parliament elected a coalition government led by Avdullah Hoti of LDK with the votes of 61 MPs. However, in December the constitutional court said one of the votes - that of Etem Arifi, MP of the Ashkali Party for Integration - was invalid because Arifi had been convicted in 2019. Thus, the government is not backed by a majority in parliament, the court said, adding that the government will remain in office until new elections are held.
VV's Kurti won the previous election held on October 6, 2019 and in early 2020 he was elected PM after forming a coalition government with LDK. However, in late March of the same year, the coalition government lost a no-confidence vote requested by its main coalition partner, LDK, after less than two months in office.
Kosovo, considered to be a potential candidate for EU membership by the European Commission, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and has so far has been recognised by more than half of the 193 UN member states. Belgrade does not recognise Kosovo's independence.