Kosovo Votes in Second Legislative Election This Year

Pristina (Photo: YTPrintScreen)

The second election for the Kosovo Assembly this year took place on Dec. 28, with 1,180 candidates running for 120 seats.

The election is taking place for the second time after Premier Albin Kurti's Self-Determination movement won the majority of votes in a Feb. 9 vote but was still unable to create a cabinet.

The 1,180 candidates come from 23 political organizations: 18 parties, three coalitions and two civic initiatives and one independent candidate They will be vying for 120 seats in the Assembly, ten of which are reserved for Serbs and ten for other minority communities living in Kosovo.

The Self-Determination Movement, previously the ruling party, is running with Guxo (Dare), the Alternative and the Albanian Democratic Christian Party of Kosovo. Among the leading Kosovo parties running in the election are the Democratic League of Kosovo, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and the Social Democratic Initiative and the Balli Kombetar Albanian Democratic National Party. The Serb parties running in the elections are the Serb List, the Kosovo Alliance and For Freedom, Justice and Survival.

A total of 2,076,290 people are registered to vote. The Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and economic issues were the main topics of the election campaign. The dialogue with Belgrade is one of the most sensitive political subjects and parties have different positions on how to take part in the process and its content. At the same time, the dialogue remains an area of political rivalry and the lack of an internal consensus in Kosovo continues to weaken Pristina's negotiating position relative to Belgrade and international mediators.