NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that he expects a stable government to emerge following the elections in Kosovo and that NATO will work with whoever leads the country. He made these remarks during a press conference, where he discussed the meeting of defense ministers from member states, scheduled for Thursday at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.
“This has been a democratic process. What we understand is that we have the initial results, but the vote counting is still ongoing, and we will have the final results soon. Based on the results so far, it appears there will be a coalition government,” Rutte said.
“Of course, we ensure that we will work with whoever leads the country. And naturally, we wish all politicians the best in managing the political landscape and ensuring that a stable government is formed as soon as possible,” he added.
On Sunday, February 9, parliamentary elections were held in Kosovo.
With 99 percent of the votes counted, Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetëvendosje movement won the most votes in the parliamentary elections on February 9, securing 47 out of 120 parliamentary seats—however, not enough to form a government independently.
According to preliminary results, the Democratic Party of Kosovo is expected to secure 25 seats, the Democratic League of Kosovo 20, and the coalition led by the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 8 seats.
These figures may change following the counting of conditional votes and those from the diaspora.
After declaring victory in Sunday’s elections, Kurti stated that Vetëvendosje would form the government independently.
Analysts in Kosovo believe that the current preliminary results of political parties in the February 9 elections create uncertainty regarding the exact configuration of the Assembly and the next government.
Political representatives of non-Serb minority communities in Kosovo, who, according to the preliminary results of the Central Election Commission, have entered the Assembly, have stated that they would, in principle, support any nominee for the formation of the new government, regardless of whether they come from the ruling Vetëvendosje party or the opposition.
The February 9 elections were the first regular elections held in Kosovo since the declaration of independence.
Observers reported that the elections were calm, with some irregularities but no major incidents.
Voter turnout was 40.59 percent of the more than 1.9 million eligible voters in Kosovo. Prior to election day, the diaspora also participated in the voting process, either by mail or in person at various Kosovan diplomatic representations around the world.
