Kosovo: Voters head to polls to elect new government

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Kosovars headed to the polls Sunday to choose new members of the country's 120-seat parliament.

The election is the sixth parliamentary poll for Europe's youngest country since 2008 when it declared independence from Serbia.

It comes after the Constitutional Court ruled the parliamentary vote that saw Avdulah Hoti installed as prime minister was invalid because a lawmaker who made the new government's majority possible, Etem Arifi, was convicted of fraud.

The government elected by 61 deputies in parliament fell after the ruling of the court.

The court asked acting-President Vjosa Osmani to announce the date of early elections within 40 days.

Osmani dissolved the parliament on Jan. 7 and announced Feb. 14 as the Election Day.

Nearly 1.8 million registered voters will cast votes at nearly 882 polling stations, according to Kosovo's Central Election Commission.

While its current population is about 1.8 million, according to the World Bank and other sources, the Balkan nation has a large expatriate population that is eligible to vote, with more than half of its overall populace younger than 25.

Due to a high number of parties, a coalition government is expected to emerge from the ballot box.

Albanians make up the majority of the population in Kosovo, which is also home to several minority groups, including Turks, Bosniaks, Serbs, Gorani, Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians.

Most ethnic Turks live in Mamusha and Prizren and make up 1.1% of the population.

The election’s main issues include work, education, justice, health, stability, normality, and development.

Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, which considers the country its territory, has not been a prominent issue in campaigns.

Also, no candidate has promised EU visa liberalization for Kosovars.

The Assembly of Kosovo is made up of 120 deputies, 10 of whom are representatives of the Serbian community and 10 from other minority communities.

The Turkish community has two seats in parliament.

In Kosovo's last general election in 2019, the turnout was 45%.

The former Serbian province of Kosovo declared independence on Feb. 17, 2008, and is recognized by more than 100 countries, including the US, the UK, France, Germany, and Turkey.