EU sends election observers to monitor Kosovo's parliamentary polls on Feb. 9

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PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — An election observation mission has been set up by the European Union to oversee parliamentary elections in Kosovo scheduled for Feb. 9.

The poll is expected to be a key test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti, whose governing party won in a landslide in the 2021. Tensions with neighboring Serbia remain tense since the former Serbian province declared independence in 2008, which Belgrade doesn’t recognize.

A team of 100 observers will monitor the elections, underlining "continuous EU support for Kosovo to further strengthen its democratic governance," Nathalie Loiseau, the French member of the European Parliament who has been appointed as chief of the mission, said Saturday.

She said the election will “showcase the plurality of Kosovo’s political landscape.”

In all, 27 political groupings will run for 120 seats in the parliament. About 100,000 voters registered abroad have already started casting postal ballots. The Serb minority has 10 secured seats in the parliament.

Ethnic Serbs make up about 2.3% of Kosovo's 1.6 million population, according to a 2024 census. Serbs largely boycotted the census and have not accepted those figures, calling them too low.

Loiseau said the elections are being held "at a moment when democracies are questioned, sometimes under threat globally ... so the importance of having a vibrant democracy in Kosovo has never been bigger.”

NATO-led international peacekeepers known as KFOR, who have increased their presence in Kosovo after last year's tensions, said their 4,300-strong force will be buttressed by more than 200 Italian troops during the election period.

In September 2023, Serb gunmen killed a police officer and occupied an Orthodox monastery in an incident Kosovo blamed on Serbia, accusing it of organizing a plot to grab its northern territory. Kosovo again accused Serbia for an explosion that damaged water and power supply systems in November last year. Belgrade denied both accusations.

Both the EU and the United States have been urging both sides to implement agreements reached two years ago that include a commitment by Kosovo to establish an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities. Serbia was also expected to deliver on the de facto recognition of Kosovo.

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Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.