site.btaUPDATED Kosovo's Capital Two Days before Second Early General Elections in 2025
Unlike the excitement and Christmas spirit on Thursday night, Friday was a quiet day for Pristina and there were not many people in the streets. Two days before Kosovo's second parliamentary elections in 2025, the central part of the capital had almost no advertising materials from the political forces that will run in the snap elections.
The exception was a large billboard featuring the current Kosovar Prime Minister and leader of the ruling left-wing Self-Determination Movement (LVV), Albin Kurti, in the middle of the pedestrian walkway in the centre of Pristina, as well as several bus stops with the image of the leader of the centre-right Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lumir Abdixhiku.
At another bus stop near downtown Pristina, an innovative approach could be seen: on a small rectangular board, in addition to the remaining minutes for buses arriving at the stop and information about air quality, photos of candidates for the Kosovo parliament were displayed.
In the evening, supporters of LDK gathered to a final for a final pre-election rally ahead of the snap elections. The event took place in the largest hall of the Youth and Sports Palace in downtown Pristina. Hundreds of attendees waved Kosovar flags, flags with the party's abbreviation in Albanian, as well as small signs with photos of candidate MPs. Those present in the hall chanted the name of party leader Abdixhiku, the party's number on the ballot, the name of the founder of the LDK and first president of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, and "All of Kosovo is LDK." The LDK Chairman said the party's vision is for a modern, pro-Western Kosovo with stable institutions that is open to the world. He promised that in the first week after taking office, his government would increase salaries so that Kosovar citizens could cope with the country's unaffordable prices. Among the party's promises were, among other things, the introduction of US gas, an increase in child benefits and teachers' salaries, a functioning judicial system, and the construction of motorways. Behind Abdixhiku, seated on chairs, were all the LDK candidates for members of Parliament.
Kosovo fell into a political crisis after the parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025, as it failed to form a government. Early parliamentary elections will be held on December 28. The election campaign began on December 17 and will end on December 27, as in Kosovo the "day of reflection" is election day itself. According to data from Kosovo's Central Election Commission, 24 political forces with a total of 1,180 candidates will run in Sunday's elections.
The main contest in the elections is between the four largest political formations – the parties of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. These are the LVV of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the centre-right Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) by Bedri Hamza, the LDK by Limur Abdixhiku, and the right-wing Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) led by former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj.
The four party leaders are also the candidates of each of the political forces for the position of Prime Minister of Kosovo. The only difference in the candidacies compared to the regular parliamentary elections in February is that the PDK's candidate for prime minister, Bedri Hamza, was elected party chairman in November this year after its previous leader, Memli Krasniqi, resigned.
/DS/
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