The Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination) movement, led by Albin Kurti, is the convincing winner of early parliamentary elections held in Kosovo on Sunday, with 48% of the vote won, preliminary election results showed after more than a half of ballots were counted.

According to exit polls published after polling stations were closed at 7 p.m., Kurti could win 53% of the vote or 58 of a total of 120 seats in the Kosovo Assembly.

His party is followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo, with 18.32% of the vote, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, with 13.65% of the vote, while the Serb Slate, the leading Kosovo Serb party, declared victory with 3.81% of the votes won.

Serb Slate leader Goran Rakić said his party had secured all ten seats in the parliament guaranteed for the ethnic Serb community.

A total of 1,052 candidates and 28 political parties, movements, coalitions and civic groups ran in the elections.

As an independent country Kosovo is today being returned to its people as the bearer of sovereignty, Kurti, a former prime minister, said in a comment on the preliminary results.

The candidate of the Democratic League of Kosovo for prime minister and incumbent Prime Minister, Avdullah Hoti, told reporters he accepted full responsibility for his party's election result, which, he said, was different than expected.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić congratulated the Serb Slate, saying that he had hoped for such an outcome.

“This is an important thing and a difficult period is ahead of us,” Vučić told the Belgrade-based Pink TV.

The last parliamentary elections in Kosovo were held in October 2019, when Kurti was elected prime minister, however, his government was given a vote of no confidence already in March 2020. The Kosovo parliament in June 2020 voted to elect a new government headed by Avdullah Hoti of the Democratic League of Kosovo.