EU assembles 100-strong observer mission for Kosovo elections scheduled for February

An election observation mission has been set up by the European Union to oversee parliamentary elections in Kosovo scheduled for 9 February.

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.

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 that census and have not accepted the 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 organising a plot to grab its northern territory.

Kosovo again put the blame on Serbia for an explosion that damaged water and power supply systems in November last year.

Belgrade denied both accusations but tensions remain between the two neighbours.

Kosovo was a former Serbian province and declared independence in 2008, a move Belgrade doesn't recognise.

Both the EU and the United States have urged 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 de facto recognition of Kosovo.