Kosovo heads to elections on December 28 - As political deadlock threatens vital funding. Reuters Analysis
Kosovo will hold elections on December 28 after a year-long political stalemate that led to the dissolution of parliament and left a 1 billion euro gap in the small Balkan country's weak finances, Reuters news agency reports.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje party won the last election in February but failed to secure a majority or find a willing coalition party after a tough campaign. Many fear that a repeat of that election could plunge Europe’s newest country into further crisis, just four months before parliament votes on a new president, as deadlines for ratifying international loans approach.
“These elections will be the most important in the recent history of Kosovo, because they are coming after a year of deadlock, but also four months before a new president is elected,” said political analyst Artan Muhaxhiri. According to him, if Kurti wins again with about 42%, this entire deadlock will be repeated, because the gap between Kurti and the other parties is large, insurmountable.
Polls are not made public in Kosovo, so there is little indication of how the election will go. But it seems unlikely that any of the main opposition parties would be willing to form a government with Kurti, who they say has stoked tensions with Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority in the north, done little to improve living standards and damaged Kosovo's reputation abroad.
Albin Kurti, who came to power in 2021, blames the opposition for the impasse and remains publicly optimistic about winning the 500,000 votes needed to win an outright majority. At a rally this week, he promised to raise salaries, spend a billion euros a year on capital investments and create a new prosecution unit to fight organized crime.
The instability was on full display this year, when lawmakers needed 73 votes over six months to elect a speaker of parliament - a position that had to be filled before a winning party could try to form a government.
The result has been dire for Kosovo's finances, which are already strained by European Union sanctions imposed for what the EU said was Kurti's role in fomenting conflict with Serbs in northern Kosovo, where they form a majority. The EU is determined to lift those measures after Serb mayors were appointed following local elections held in October.
However, around 880 million euros of EU funds for Kosovo's budget have been delayed, as well as 127 million euros of financial support from the World Bank, including some aimed at strengthening the health and education systems.
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