June 12 (SeeNews) - A centre-right coalition led by Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has won Sunday's early general election, preliminary official results showed on Monday.
The PDK-AAK-Nisma coalition led by former Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) leaders Kadri Veseli, Ramush Haradinaj and Fatmir Limaj, has won 34.60% of the vote, according to preliminary results from the Central Election Commission based on 91.16% of the ballots counted.
The biggest surprise of the vote was the high score of nationalist Self-Determination (VV) party, which came in slightly ahead of a three-party alliance led by Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). VV has won 26.73% of the vote versus 25.84% for third placed LDK-AKR-Alternativa coalition.
The snap election was called in May after Isa Mustafa's coalition government of PDK and the LDK lost a no-confidence vote in parliament sought by the opposition and backed by the PDK.
Before the election, both the LDK-led alliance and VV had declared they would not enter into a government coalition with PDK, which raises the question with whom the winner will form a government.
Candidate for the post of prime minister from the PDK-AAK-Nisma alliance is AAK leader and former UCK commander Ramush Haradinaj, who was indicted twice for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague and was found not guilty both times. Prior to the elections, Haradinaj had promised that a government led by him would focus on the country's economic development and the rule of law and that he would include the United States in Kosovo's dialogue with Serbia.
Voter turnover was 40.01% according to non-final data announced by the Central Election Commission, lower than 42.17% in the previous parliamentary elections held in 2014.
By comparison, in the 2014 vote PDK won 30.38%, LDK had 25.24%, whereas VV gained 13.59%. After that vote, former political opponents Hashim Thaci, leader of PDK, and Isa Mustafa, leader of LDK, formed a government coalition, which also comprised ethnic-Serb party Serb List.
On Sunday, 26 parties and coalitions were competing to enter Kosovo's 120-seat parliament. Out of the total, 20 seats are reserved for ethnic minorities, including 10 for ethnic Serbs.