Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has explained the factors that influenced Vetëvendosje Movement (VV) to receive over 50 percent of the vote in the December 28 elections.

Kurti, who is also VV chairman, said in an exclusive interview for KosovaPress that citizens clearly saw who was responsible for last year’s political crisis. According to him, the peak of the blockade and refusal by former opposition parties was their refusal to participate in the session where the budget and international agreements were supposed to be approved.

According to preliminary results from the Central Election Commission (CEC), Vetëvendosje Movement received 50.24 percent of the vote in the December 28 elections.

However, Kurti adds that another factor behind this large electoral support was the campaign commitments.

Kurti explains which factors led VV to again secure over 50 percent in the elections

“The peak was the refusal to participate in the session where the 2026 budget was supposed to be approved, then the three agreements with the World Bank, as well as the European Union Growth Plan, which together amounted to over one billion euros. I believe that the citizens of the Republic clearly saw, beyond all the noise that was taking place, who bears responsibility for the situation we are in. And that is why we were given an even stronger mandate than before. I believe this was a very important factor in this landslide victory, in this new growth that we achieved. However, I would not neglect another factor either, and that is our commitments, which I believe we communicated even more successfully, and there were also some new ones, which further energized citizens to participate in the elections. Therefore, I do not believe that Vetëvendosje Movement converted voters or members of other parties. We managed to achieve a nationwide mobilization. That is why I say that this victory of December 28 belongs to the people and to the Republic,” he emphasized.

Expressing confidence in the rapid formation of institutions, Kurti said that the new mandate gives them great hope for the road ahead due to the strong popular support.

He described the victory in the December 28 elections as historic.

“I believe it is both—more trust, but also more responsibility. We consider that we actually won the elections on February 9, when the regular parliamentary elections were held, as Vetëvendosje Movement together with our partners. However, this time we had even more partners, but the victory truly belongs to the people and to the Republic. Over 50 percent, a kind of plebiscite, a referendum-like victory, even a historic one, which both in absolute terms and in relative percentage surpasses that of February 14, 2021. Therefore, this will be a mandate that gives us great hope for the road ahead due to popular support, but we are clearly aware that the more opportunities you have, the more responsibility you carry. And these great opportunities must undoubtedly be matched by our responsibilities toward the commitments we made both a year ago and during this latest campaign. At the same time, we must also mention that many challenges will arise that we cannot foresee today, and for which we must be fully prepared,” he added.

Based on preliminary results, VV received over 80 percent of the votes from the diaspora. In an interview for KosovaPress, Kurti explains why he is the most voted politician by the diaspora.

According to him, the diaspora finds a form of fulfillment for its longing for the homeland in the positions of Vetëvendosje Movement, which, he said, has been characterized by state and public security on one hand, and by prosperity and well-being for all citizens on the other.

Why he is the most voted politician by the diaspora, Kurti explains

“I believe there is not much difference between the diaspora and Kosovo. Support for Vetëvendosje is not simply support only from our diaspora; it is support both inside and outside, because these are divided families. Our brothers and sisters who are in Western Europe, in the United States of America, and across the world are not separated from their families spiritually, nor are they separated socially or culturally. What we are dealing with is a traumatic physical separation that occurred in different periods of history, which we carry within our lives. Therefore, I do not believe the separation is that great. It is true that they live in other countries, where the longing for the homeland is very strong, and one form of fulfillment they find is precisely in the positions of the Vetëvendosje Movement, in our governing program, which has been characterized by an emphasis on state and public security on the one hand, and on prosperity and well-being for all citizens without distinction. I would emphasize the traumatic element of our sisters and brothers who were forced to migrate, whether in the 1980s or the 1990s, due to economic reasons, political persecution, or as refugees during the war. This traumatic element makes our diaspora different from the diasporas of other peoples in general, but not different from Kosovo itself,” Kurti emphasized.

Alongside VV’s growth in the December 28 elections, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) experienced a significant decline, which, according to preliminary CEC results, received 13.40 percent, or around 50,000 fewer votes than in the February 9 elections of the previous year.

According to Kurti, this decline in votes shows that citizens viewed the LDK leadership as obstructive to the formation of institutions last year.

Why LDK experienced a decline in votes according to Kurti

“My impression is that after the February 9 elections, the leadership of the Democratic League of Kosovo was seen by the citizens of the Republic as blocking any form of cooperation. Now, under circumstances where the third-ranked political subject emerges, with a large gap from the first and not a small one even from the second, refusing to communicate, meet, or cooperate does not seem rational to me. On the other hand, there was no alternative path forward. In this sense, it is possible that a considerable number of Democratic League of Kosovo voters, who wanted to see a coalition with Vetëvendosje in the previous legislature, withdrew their support from LDK. In any case, now with the result of December 28, with everything that happened in 2025, we no longer have absolutely any obstacle, any blockade, to move forward and form institutions,” he said. /KosovaPress/