Kosovo Faces Risk of New Elections as Political Deadlock and Protests Mount

Kosovo is facing the risk of instability as protests against the verdict against former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders coincide with a midnight deadline to elect a president. According to observers, if parliament fails to reach an agreement, a new election could be held, with November 15 seen as a feasible date.

Protesters are demanding amendments to the law governing the Kosovo Specialist Chambers based in The Hague, including provisions on prison terms and where convicted persons serve their sentences. The gatherings follow the September 16 verdict against former KLA leaders, including former President Hashim Thaci.

The protesters' demands have become tightly bound up with negotiations over the presidency. Against that backdrop, the prospect of early elections is growing, and November 15 has emerged as a likely date. Political analyst Artan Muhaxhiri told Al Jazeera that "new elections in themselves promise nothing particularly positive," adding that the chance of fundamental political change is slim.

According to Muhaxhiri, if a president is not elected before midnight, a new vote will take place in a tense political atmosphere. He argued that anger over the verdicts will become the central issue of the election campaign, "overshadowing basic questions of economic and social development, and deepening the spiral of systemic instability in the country."

How did Kosovo reach this point?

In 2015, the Specialist Chambers were established under Kosovo law following international investigations into allegations of war crimes by KLA members during and after the 1998-1999 conflict. Although formally part of Kosovo's judicial system, the court is based in The Hague. It remains controversial in Kosovo because the KLA is widely revered for fighting against Serbian rule.

In September, protests erupted after the court sentenced Thaci to 25 years in prison. Afterwards, the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) — once led by Thaci — proposed amendments aimed at curtailing the court's operations, including capping prison terms at 15 years, allowing convicted persons to serve their sentences in Kosovo, permitting appeals to Kosovo's Supreme Court, allowing the president to grant pardons, and narrowing the court's temporal jurisdiction.

On October 2, 2026, the government of Prime Minister Albi Kurti concluded there were no legal obstacles to the PDK proposal and forwarded its assessment to Kosovo's parliament. Days later, parliament passed the proposal in its first reading with 91 votes in favor, although the text has not been finally adopted.

Meanwhile, Kosovo fell into political deadlock after President Vjosa Osmani's term expired in April, when parliament was unable to choose a new president.

According to political science professor Nexhmedin Spahiu in Pristina, internal power struggles within the PDK after the September verdict have left the party divided, depriving the largest opposition party of the ability to negotiate an inter-party compromise on the presidency.

On Monday, when lawmakers lacked a quorum to elect a president, police deployed tear gas and water cannon outside parliament following clashes involving fireworks and bottles. The use of force drew criticism from observers.

Tensions escalate

Journalist Gezim Baxhaku in Pristina argued that special police units exceeded their legal authority. "There was excessive use of force," Baxhaku told Al Jazeera. He said that although protesters threw fireworks, police "overstepped their legal powers and acted completely contrary to the actual situation."

Among the hundreds of protesters were former KLA veterans. Pristina had seen nearly three weeks of largely peaceful gatherings before the escalation on Monday.

"Ordinary people were bringing food, water and coffee to officers on duty," Baxhaku said. "There was absolutely no reason for this to happen. For the first time since the late 2000s, police acted in such an unnecessary way — reacting on orders to inflame the situation."

Professor Spahiu argued that the protests should not be read as a sign that Kosovo's population at large opposes the verdicts. "The vast majority of Kosovo's citizens are satisfied with the decisions of the Specialist Chambers in The Hague," he said.

According to Spahiu, the court's rejection of Serbia's allegations of systematic crimes against humanity by the KLA "affirmed the liberation struggle." He added: "Moreover, people are relieved that individuals are finally being held accountable for crimes committed against political opponents within the Albanian community itself."

Political deadlock and Kurti's "transactional" approach

Parliament remains deadlocked over electing the head of state, as the PDK and other opposition parties boycott the vote, leaving the legislature short of the 80 lawmakers required under the constitution.

Muhaxhiri blamed Kurti for the crisis, criticizing his decision to link the presidential vote to amendments concerning the Hague-based court.

"Tensions escalated further when Kurti presented a plan based on a transactional approach to two fundamentally different issues: tying the bill amending the Specialist Chambers law to the election of a new president," Muhaxhiri said.

"In effect, this amounts to a trade-off. In doing so, he appears to place the historical, national and identity significance of the liberation war on the same table of political bargaining, with the immediate goal of electing a president who serves his own political interests."