Kosovo PM's Party Expected to Win Election but Fall Short of Majority

(CNA, Pristina, 7th, Comprehensive Foreign Report) Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti is expected to win today's parliamentary elections, but he will still struggle to secure the majority needed to end a long-standing political crisis. This is the third election in 18 months for the Balkan nation.

According to Reuters, Kosovo, one of Europe's youngest and poorest countries, hopes to join the European Union but has lacked a fully functioning government for much of the past year. A deeply divided parliament has delayed the election of a speaker and a new head of state.

Voting ended at 7 p.m. local time. According to official results, with 73% of the votes counted, Kurti's Vetevendosje movement received 43% support.

The party still needs to cooperate with other parties to form a new government and must compromise with rivals to secure the two-thirds majority in parliament required to elect a new president.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Kosovo received 22% of the vote, and the Democratic League of Kosovo received 18%.

Vetevendosje won 51.1% support in the last election in December, up from 42% in February last year, but failed to reach a consensus with other parties on the largely symbolic presidential candidate, leading to the dissolution of parliament in April this year and an early election.