Kosovo, Europe’s youngest state and the Western Balkans’ second-smallest country with about 1.7 million people, has struggled with political and institutional instability for more than a year. After two parliamentary elections in 2025 that delivered a decisive victory to Prime Minister Albin Kurti and his left-leaning Self-Determination party (Vetevendosje), the standoff has shifted to the presidency and is deepening the crisis.
President Vjosa Osmani’s five-year term ends on April 4. The constitution requires the new head of state to be chosen by parliament, but opposition parties in the assembly have refused to cooperate. They argue that Kurti already controls the executive and the speakership through his party and fear that the presidency would further consolidate his influence.
Electing the president in Kosovo requires 80 of the 120 parliamentary votes. Kurti, together with representatives of non-Serb minorities in his governing coalition, can command only 66 votes, forcing his party to seek agreement with other groups. Kurti nominated his deputy and party figure Glauk Konjufca and another Self-Determination member, Fatmire Kollcaku, to stand for president at the parliamentary session scheduled for March 5, 2026 — the last day allowed under the constitution. The opposition boycotted the session and did not field a candidate, causing the vote to fail.
The constitution states the head of state must be elected no later than 30 days before the outgoing president’s term ends. With Osmani’s term concluding April 4, the successor should have been chosen by March 5. Because the parliamentary vote failed, the constitution provides for new parliamentary elections.
Osmani, who had previously been an ally of Kurti but lost his party’s backing for re-election, expressed regret at the breakdown, blaming parties’ failure to act in citizens’ interests. She issued a decree to dissolve parliament. Kurti challenged that decree in the constitutional court. On March 9, the court issued a provisional order suspending Osmani’s dissolution until March 31 and blocking further parliamentary actions in the interim.
The president and prime minister disagree over the constitutional deadlines and when dissolution can occur after a failed presidential election. Kurti argues the 30-day requirement marks the start of the electoral process rather than its deadline, meaning parliament would still have 60 days after March 5 to elect a new president. The court faces a complex interpretive task and may take time to issue a definitive ruling, during which experts warn an institutional vacuum could emerge.
Parliamentary politics have been turbulent. Although Vetevendosje won in February 2025, Kurti initially struggled for months to form a majority because opposition parties refused to join him. That impasse led to fresh elections on December 28, 2025. After winning more than 51% of the vote, Self-Determination convened a new parliament in mid-January 2026 and formed a government, but the presidential election on the parliamentary agenda failed amid political maneuvering.
Observers say the system’s design — intended to encourage consensus and compromise — clashes with often hierarchical, individualistic political behavior, making single-party governance difficult. Ismet Kryeziu of the civil society network Democracy in Action points to that tension, while analyst Naim Rashiti of the Balkan Policy Research Group warns that Kosovo’s political elite is undermining its constitutional order.
Rashiti says Kosovo’s international standing is eroding: its allies view the country as unstable and slow to advance toward EU integration, reforms, and progress in dialogue with Serbia. Growing international criticism, he cautions, will take time and consistent reforms to reverse.
This article was originally published in German.