CEC announces final results of February 9 elections

2025-03-15 17:01:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Central Election Commission (CEC) in Kosovo has today approved the final results of the February 9 parliamentary elections, in which the Self-Determination Movement (LVV) leads with over 390,000 votes or 42.30 percent.

The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) came in second with over 190,000 votes, or 20.95 percent, followed by the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with over 170,000 votes, or 18.27 percent.

In fourth place is the coalition between the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and the Social Democratic Initiative with over 66,000 votes or 7.06 percent.

The Serbian List – the largest Serb party in Kosovo – secured over 39,000 votes or 4.26 percent.

With these percentages, LVV has secured 48 seats in the Kosovo Assembly, PDK, 24, LDK, 20 seats, Serbian Lista nine seats, and the AAK-Nisma coalition, eight seats.

CEC announces final results of February 9 elections

Over 2 million citizens of Kosovo had the right to vote in this electoral process, while the participation was 46.54 percent.

The Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Kreshnik Radoniqi, said that with the new Law on Elections, political entities can complain to the Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) regarding this final result up to 48 hours from its announcement.

The ECAP must then make a decision within 96 hours of the complaint being filed.

Radoniqi guaranteed that at no point was the integrity of the vote violated, even though there were delays in counting the votes.

He justified the delays by saying that the votes were counted for the first time as required by the new law, which means that initially the votes for political entities were counted, then the votes for candidates for deputies were counted in 38 counting centers, along with verification of votes for political entities.

As another reason for the delay, he also mentioned the electronic platform, which according to him did not function properly, so officials were forced to manually verify each figure before entering the results into the system.

"The results followed the steps foreseen under the Election Law and were counted in full transparency," he said, pledging that the CEC will organize internal panels to understand where the work has stalled and to avoid potential problems in future electoral processes.

The current Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, who is also the chairman of the LVV, vows to form the new executive, but without specifying how.

Voices within his party mention the possibility of a coalition with non-Serb minorities, and count on the support of some MP from the major Albanian parties, even though this scenario is not considered to produce stability.

The major Albanian parties have rejected the possibility of cooperating with Kurti, and have even set conditions for reaching any eventual coalition with each other.

What happens now?

Within 30 days of the certification of the results by the CEC, the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, must convene the constitutive meeting of the Assembly of Kosovo.

This meeting is considered closed only after the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly have been elected.

Based on preliminary results, the post of Speaker of the Assembly will go to the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV), which has won the most votes. However, if this party does not nominate someone for Speaker, the process will freeze in place.

But, if the Speaker of the Assembly is elected, then the clock starts ticking for the next terms.

The country's president is obliged to nominate the winning party of the elections as the candidate to form the Government.

Although there is no exact deadline here either, the decisions in force stipulate that the process should take place "as soon as possible".

The cabinet must secure the votes of 61 MPs within this deadline. However, if this does not happen, the president is obliged to invite the political parties to consultations once again within 10 days, and to decide, at her discretion, on the new prime minister, if she proves to him that she has the numbers to form the Government.

The next prime minister should also have 15 days to present the composition of the government cabinet to the Assembly.

If the Government is not formed even after 40 days, the president must announce the decree for new elections, which must be held forty days from the announcement of the decision./ REL