Kosovo could be heading towards lengthy talks on forming a coalition government, delaying economic reforms, official preliminary results showed on Monday.

Early elections were held on Sunday after the PDK-led government of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, accused by the opposition of failing to meet pledges to improve the lives of young people, lost a no-confidence vote.

"The outcome is definitely one which is not creating immediately a clear majority for a government and I hope that it does not take again up to nine months as it was the case last time [2014]," said Johannes Hahn, the European Union's chief in charge of enlargement.

Both the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), who had been together in the coalition government until last month, excluded the possibility of renewing the partnership.

With 99 percent of the votes cast on Sunday counted, the PDK-led coalition had 34 percent of votes, the opposition Vetevendosje (VV) party 27 percent, and a coalition led by the LDK nearly 26 percent, the Election Commission website showed.

The result would give the PDK-lead coalition 39 seats in the 120-seat parliament while VV would get 31 and LDK 30, Pristina media reported. The remaining 20 seats would go to minorities - 10 to Serbs and 10 to other ethnic groups.

The state election commission put the turnout at 41.5 percent, the lowest since 2008, with many Kosovars frustrated over the lack of economic progress and a deep level of corruption.

VV, which nearly doubled number of seats compared to the 2014 elections when it won 16 seats, blames both the PDK and LDK for a deep level of corruption and poor living standard. It refuses to enter a coalition with the PDK and has conditions for the LDK.

"We can not exclude another snap election," said political analyst Imer Mushkolaj.

The new government will have to tackle unemployment running at 30 percent and improve relations with Kosovo's neighbors, especially Serbia, a precondition for both countries to move forward in the European Union accession process.

It must also reform health and education, and the tax administration system.

Any government will have to include representatives of some 120,000 Kosovo Serbs who do not recognize independence.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, nine years after NATO bombing drove out Serbian forces accused of killing and expelling Kosovo Albanian civilians as Serbia tried to put down an ethnic Albanian insurgency. Serbia still refuses to recognize Kosovo's independence.</s>One of the preconditions of Kosovan acceptance into the EU is for it to improve its relations with Serbia, which currently does not recognize the breakaway state, which is known as Kosovo-Metohija by the Serbs.

​Serbian President Alexander Vucic said: "The so-called war or veteran coalition, which has won most votes in the elections in Kosovo and Metohija, is the group that has most openly threatened Serbs, and that will create a lot of problems for us."

He claimed Serbia would be "protecting the interests of Serbia and Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija."

​Ramush Haradinaj was a former KLA commander who stepped down as prime minister of Kosovo in 2005 in order to defend himself against war crimes allegations.

He was found not guilty at two trials at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague, but Serbia says it has fresh evidence of his guilt.

It claims he killed ethnic Albanian villagers who were accused of collaborating with the Yugoslavian army.

When he was acquitted Judge Bakone Moloto said the evidence was clear that several Serbs were badly beaten and one even died in a KLA compound in Kosovo.

But he said there was no evidence Mr. Haradinaj was involved.

In the Middle Ages Kosovo was the birthplace of the Serbian nation and in 1389 it was the scene of the Battle of the Kosovo, when thousands of Serbs lost their lives fighting invaders from the Ottoman Empire.

But by the beginning of the 20th century ethnic Albanians had become the majority in Kosovo and after the Second World War Serbs increasingly migrated to other parts of what was then Yugoslavia Serbia proper, or abroad.

​In 1996 the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) launched a guerrilla war against what was left of Yugoslavia, which later became Serbia.

Two years later Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic tried to stamp out the KLA uprising but was accused of trying to ethnically cleanse the province.

In March 1999 NATO planes bombed Yugoslav forces in Kosovo and also dropped bombs on Belgrade, causing substantial civilian casualties.

The Yugoslav Army finally withdrew from Kosovo which, in 2008, declared independence. Serbia, Russia and several other countries, including China, do not recognize Kosovo as a nation.

Last month Kosovan political scientist Nexhmedin Spahiu said Kosovo was the "creation of the west" and it would be the west who would control the parliament.

In January this year French police arrested Haradinaj, on the basis of a Serbian arrest warrant, after he flew in from Pristina.

While he was being held in custody his brother Daut, who is a member of the Kosovo Assembly, reportedly threatened that if he was extradited "not a single Serb would remain in Kosovo."

In April the French authorities decided against extraditing him to Serbia and released him to return to Kosovo.

With 70 percent of ballots counted, his center-right Alliance for the Future of Kosovo coalition has around a third of the votes from the weekend's election, ahead of the left-wing Vetevendosje party.

The Serbian newspaper Blic said it had seen a statement from Kutjim Berisha, an ethnic Albanian, who claimed Haradinaj had taken part in war crimes against both Serbs and Albanians accused of collaborating with the Belgrade regime.

He was interviewed in Montenegro in May 2004, but died in a mysterious car crash in Podgorica before Haradinaj went on trial.

Berisha was allegedly one of 19 witnesses against Haradinaj who have died.</s>Kosovo votes in an early parliamentary election Sunday. The election was called in May when the government lost a confidence vote after the opposition accused it for not fulfilling promises to improve the country's standard of living.

Public opinion polls indicate a coalition of three former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) is in the lead.

The coalition, led by former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, is made up of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of Kadri Veseli, the Initiative for Kosovo, NISMA, of Fatmir Limaj, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AKK), Haradinaj. The three party leaders were major wartime figures. All three have been accused of war crimes but found not guilty by The Hague International Tribunal.

Four other coalitions, 19 political parties, and two citizens' initiatives have nominated candidates for the premiership.

The new government will have to deal with a number of thorny issues, such as tense relations with Serbia, joining the European Union, the approval of border demarcation deal with Montenegro — a condition put by Brussels to join the EU's Schengen zone for visa-free travel — endemic corruption and possible war crime indictments for some leaders by a new Hague-based Special Court.

More than 1.8 million Kosovars, of whom nearly half a million live abroad, are registered to vote in the third general election since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Since then, more than 110 countries, including the United States and most of the European Union member states, have recognized Kosovo. Serbia has not.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will close at 7 p.m.</s>A senior European Union official has expressed hope that Kosovo will soon get a new government following snap parliamentary elections that left no party in a position to govern without what could be tough efforts to build a coalition.

"The outcome is definitely one which is not creating immediately a clear majority for a government, and I hope that it doesn't take again up to nine months as it was the case last time, because it is so important for this country to stay committed to reform," EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in Brussels on June 12.

"For us it is crucial that the country and its representatives are committed to the European perspective," Hahn said, adding that "better living conditions [are] only achievable embedded into the European Union."

Preliminary results suggest the ruling center-right Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) won the most votes in the June 11 elections, but it appeared unlikely to have won enough seats to govern even with its planned coalition partners.

The vote also confirmed the strong rise of the nationalist Self-Determination Movement (VV) party, which nearly doubled its support since the last elections and looked set to finish second in the overall vote.

With more than 90 percent of the ballots counted, the coalition headed by the PDK of President Hashim Thaci was leading with 34.65 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission. The PDK coalition includes former Prime Minister and rebel leader Ramush Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK).

The nationalist VV, also known as Vetevendosje, had 26.59 percent of the vote, just ahead of a coalition led by outgoing Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), which had 25.82 percent.

If those results are borne out, no single group would be able to govern alone, making further coalition attempts likely.

Turnout was put at 41.79 percent in Kosovo's third elections since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The country is recognized by 114 other countries but not by Serbia and Russia.

WATCH: Voters in the town of Gracanica cast ballots in Kosovo's early parliamentary elections on June 11. Gracanica is the home to a medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery and is one of the centers of the Serbian minority in Kosovo. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service)

Haradinaj, the PDK-led coalition's candidate for prime minister, declared victory, telling supporters at a rally in Pristina that "we know that there is a lot of work ahead of us. But we are going to achieve them together."

The PDK coalition, with a large number of former guerrilla fighters, has been dubbed the "war wing" by Kosovo's media.

If Haradinaj does assume the prime minister role, it would complicate relations with neighboring Serbia, which has issued an international arrest warrant against him on suspicion of committing war crimes when he was a guerrilla fighter during Kosovo's 1998-99 independence war.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the victory of hard-liners in the elections will create "a lot of difficulties and problems," but added that the EU-mediated dialogue with Kosovo must continue.

Haradinaj, 48, has been tried twice and acquitted of war crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Haradinaj was elected prime minister of Kosovo in 2004 but resigned after 100 days in order to surrender himself for trial in The Hague. He has denied all charges.

His coalition and allies appeared unlikely to get the 51 seats in the 120-member parliament needed to govern.

Parliamentary rules reserve 20 seats for ethnic Serbs and other minorities. The PDK is looking to form a coalition with the 10 deputies representing the non-Serbian minorities, including ethnic Turks and Roma.

Any new cabinet will have a tough job dealing with the many problems facing the country, which is predominantly populated by ethnic Albanians.

Many of Kosovo's 1.8 million inhabitants blame politicians from all sides for a stubbornly high unemployment rate that hovers around one-third of workforce despite solid economic expansion of about 4 percent annually in one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Other key priorities the next government faces include establishing better control over privatization and creating a functioning war crimes court and prosecution office, which would start the process of sidelining wartime leaders from political and public life.

Yet the biggest issues surrounding the vote are a pair of agreements signed in 2015: one setting the border with Montenegro and another with Serbia that increases powers held by ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

Those issues have helped stall reforms in the legislature and angered the electorate in a country where about one-third of the population is under the age of 15.

"For more than a year we didn't have a functional government, and now I don't trust them," said Islam Fehmiu, a retiree from the capital, Pristina.

"Parliament couldn't finish its sessions. I have very low hopes. The preelection coalitions are looking out only for their own interests and I absolutely think they won't solve ongoing issues such as border demarcation with Montenegro," Fehmiu added.

The election marked the rise of the Self-Determination Movement, which was a disruptive opposition force in the previous parliament and would make any coalition-building difficult. VV supporters at one time released tear gas inside parliament and threw firebombs outside it to protest the deals with Montenegro and Serbia.

Albin Kurti, the party's candidate for prime minister, said the VV would fight corruption, jail former officials, end talks with Serbia, and seek a closer union with neighboring Albania.

With reporting by Alan Crosby, Amra Zejneli in Pristina, Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels, AP, BBC, and Reuters</s>SKOPJE, Macedonia — For the third time since Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, voters elected a new Parliament on Sunday, likely giving power to a former rebel leader who was twice acquitted of war crimes by an international tribunal.

With around 80 percent of the votes tallied, a coalition of parties featuring the Democratic Party of Kosovo appeared to win the most votes and will seek to establish a government led by Ramush Haradinaj, a former prime minister and once a leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought a war for independence from Serbia in the late 1990s.

According to preliminary results released by the Kosovo election commission, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, or P.D.K., won 35 percent, beating the ruling Democratic League of Kosovo and the Self-Determination Party, each with around 25 percent.

Without a clear majority, the leading party must form a coalition to establish a government. There are 20 seats reserved for ethnic minority parties, including 10 seats for Serbs.</s>BELGRADE (Sputnik) – The center-right coalition brings together of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which is close to Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) of Ramush Haradinaj, the country’s prime minister candidate and former prime minister.

On Sunday, the citizens of breakaway Kosovo were casting ballots to express support to the preferred political bloc, out of the total of 26 parties and alliances. Kosovo parliament encompasses the total of 120 seats and 20 of them are reserved for the representatives of the ethnic minorities.

On May 10, the Kosovo Assembly voted to dismiss the government of Mustafa in a no-confidence motion, as the current government failed to implement political pledges. The initiative passed with 78 votes in favor, 34 against and three abstentions, paving the way for a snap election. Following the vote, Thaci dissolved the parliament and on May 11, set the date for the early vote.</s>A coalition government is set as the next step after victories for Kosovo's 'war wing' alliance and main leftist party.

A coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders has won the most votes in Kosovo's general election but lacks an outright majority to form a government.

The alliance, dubbed the "war wing" by Kosovo's media and led by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of President Hashim Thaci, won 35.78 percent of votes, based on a count of nearly 70 percent of ballots.

Ramush Haradinaj, whom the leading coalition has nominated to be prime minister, hailed Kosovars "for the trust given to the coalition", adding "these are the best elections ever held" in Kosovo.

"The victory is convincing and makes us capable of operating further to create the country's government," he said.

READ MORE: Serbian election campaign leads to tension in Kosovo

But the nationalist left-wing Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party appeared to roughly double its support since the last election, bagging 26.6 percent of votes after pledging to take on rampant corruption.

Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti hailed the result as a "huge victory" as he addressed his followers.

He said the party, which is known for its radical methods in opposition such as hurling tear gas in parliament, had "more victories ahead".

The coalition led by former ruling Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, came in third with 25.3 percent of the vote.

READ MORE: Roma in Kosovo - The justice that never came

Supporters of the leading coalition and Vetevendosje took to the streets to celebrate in central Pristina.

The snap parliamentary election, which took place on Sunday, was called after 78 MPs out of 120 backed a vote of no confidence against the administration.

This is Kosovo's third legislative election since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

The opposition has been demanding elections for two years, primarily due to controversial agreements that the government signed in Brussels in 2015 regarding the border demarcation with Montenegro, and on establishing an autonomous association of Serb-majority municipalities.

Most of Kosovo's 1.8 million people are ethnic Albanian.

The country's Serb minority also automatically gets 10 representatives in the assembly, but the full distribution of seats would not be clear until Monday or later in the week.

The country, where half of the population is under the age of 30, has been beset with economic problems and political corruption.

The unemployment rate is 27.5 percent, and many young people leave Kosovo in search of a better life.

According to the Slovenia-based International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies, Kosovo's political elites are "characterised by crime, corruption and nepotism".

Overshadowing the vote is a new special court set up to try war crimes allegedly committed by members of the pro-independence Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which fought Serbian forces in the late 1990s.

Turnout in Sunday's vote was 41.40 percent, a slight drop from last election's 2014 turnout which was 42.63 percent.</s>PRISTINA, June 11 (Reuters) - A coalition led by the ruling centre-right Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) is set to win Kosovo's snap parliamentary election on Sunday, according to exit polls.

The television station Kosova Klan published exit polls giving the PDK-led coalition 40 percent, the Vetevendosje (VV) party 30 percent, and a coalition led by the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) 27 percent.

First preliminary results are due to come later in the evening.

About 1.9 million Kosovars, nearly half a million of whom live abroad, were registered to vote in the third election since Kosovo declared independence in 2008.

The state election commission put the turnout at 41.5 percent, compared to 43 percent at the last election in 2014.

"Voters showed they trust our coalition," Ramush Haradinaj, the PDK-led coalition's candidate for prime minister, told a news conference. Haradinaj is a member of the small Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK).

"With this vote now, we are obliged to form the government, and we will do that."

The new government will have to tackle unemployment running at 30 percent and improve relations with Kosovo's neighbours, especially Serbia, a precondition for both countries to move forward in the European Union accession process.

The West sees the integration of the Western Balkan countries into the European Union as a way to stabilise a region still recovering from wars in the 1990s.

Early elections were called in May when the government of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa lost a no-confidence vote, accused by the opposition of failing to meet pledges to improve the lives of the youngest population in Europe.

"Those who were in power should not come again, they are incriminated too much. They want to stay because they have created a lot of privileges for themselves," said Hasan Visoka, 62, after voting in a school in the capital, Pristina.

"Nothing will change. It doesn't matter who comes to power, we'll continue to be poor, without a future," Arta Kelmendi, 28, said after voting.

But if Haradinaj does become prime minister, it will probably complicate relations with Serbia, which has issued an international warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.

The new government will also have to try to strike a border demarcation deal with Montenegro, which is the last condition for the European Union to grant visa-free travel for Kosovars.

Kosovo's neighbours Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia have all already secured visa-free travel to EU member states.

Kosovo's economy has been growing steadily and is forecast to expand by about 4 percent in 2017, but the growth is mainly down to remittances from a million or so Kosovars living abroad.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, nine years after NATO bombing drove out Serbian forces accused of killing and expelling Kosovo Albanian civilians as Serbia tried to put down an ethnic Albanian insurgency. Serbia still refuses to recognise Kosovo's independence. (Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Kevin Liffey)</s>PRISTINA, Kosovo -- A coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders won the most votes Sunday in Kosovo's general election, which also saw a surge in popularity for a nationalist party, according to preliminary results.

The ex-rebels came in first with about 35 percent of the vote. The nationalist Self-Determination Movement was neck-and-neck with the coalition led by former Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, with about 26 percent each after the counting of about 70 percent of the votes, according to Democracy in Action, a monitoring group.

Based on the early results, it's likely that any group would need to form a larger coalition in order to govern.

The new Cabinet will have a tough job in resolving several issues, including the border demarcation deal with Montenegro. The approval of an agreement with Serbia, giving more rights to the ethnic Serb minority, and the continuation of fraught talks with Belgrade, which denies Kosovo's existence as a state, were also key concerns.

Ramush Haradinaj, whom the leading coalition has nominated to be prime minister, hailed Kosovars "for the trust given to the coalition," adding, "these are the best elections ever held" in Kosovo.

"The victory is convincing and [makes] us capable of operating further to create the country's government," he said.

The final results for the 120-seat parliament are expected later in the week. Ethnic Serbs and other minority groups have 20 seats.

Self-Determination Movement officials celebrated the results, which saw the party double its share of the vote. The party was a disruptive force in the previous parliament and is the biggest opposition party to shun pre-election coalitions. The party's members and supporters in the past have released tear gas inside parliament and thrown firebombs outside it to protest the contentious deals with Montenegro and Serbia.

The party has nominated its former leader, 42-year-old Albin Kurti, for prime minister.

The party says it "is the only one which is going to fight corruption in a successful way," send former officials to jail, and end the current talks with Serbia while seeking a closer union with neighboring Albania.

Kosovo's election authorities said preliminary figures put turnout in the country's general election at 41.79 percent.

Central Election Commission head Valdete Daka said that "there have been no problems that would gravely damage the process."</s>PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Nearly complete results in Kosovo's national election are showing that a coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders is leading with a third of the vote.

Democracy in Action, a monitoring group, said Monday that 87 percent of Sunday's vote had been counted.

The monitors say the nationalist Movement for Self-determination is at about 27 percent, trailed by a coalition led by former Prime Minister Isa Mustafa with around 25 percent.

Fireworks illuminate the main square after the coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders claimed victory in general elections in Kosovo capital Pristina on Monday, June 12, 2017. The coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders has won the most votes in Kosovo's general election, which also saw a surge in popularity for a nationalist party, according to preliminary results. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

No group can govern alone and a coalition is likely.

Final results for the new 120-seat parliament are expected later in the week. Twenty seats in parliament are reserved for ethnic Serbs and other minorities.

Supporters of the coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders gather to celebrate the results of general elections in Kosovo capital Pristina on Monday, June 12, 2017. The coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders has won the most votes in Kosovo's general election, which also saw a surge in popularity for a nationalist party, according to preliminary results. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Ramush Haradinaj, left, candidate for prime minister joined by Kadri Veseli, coalition partner, claiming victory in general elections, reacts to the crowd gathered to celebrate in Kosovo capital Pristina on Monday, June 12, 2017. The coalition of former ethnic Albanian rebel commanders has won the most votes in Kosovo's general election, which also saw a surge in popularity for a nationalist party, according to preliminary results. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
A coalition led by the Democratic Party of Kosovo wins the most votes in yesterday's election and is in a good position to form a government led by former rebel leader and Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.