Consultations began in Kosovo on July 31 on selecting a date for parliamentary elections next year, but representatives of the of the ruling party and the leading Serbian political grouping did not take part.
President Vjosa Osmani initiated the talks between the country's political parties and said after the meeting that the parties that attended expressed interest in all the possible dates.
According to the deadlines set by law, Kosovo can hold regular elections on January 26 or on February 2, 9, or 16.
Osmani said she didn’t know why no representatives of Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) Movement attended. Kurti’s office said he was in invited to lunch by EU Ambassador to Kosovo Tomas Szunyog.
There was also no representative of the Serbian List party at the talks. Osmani gave no reason for the absence, and the party didn't respond to RFE/RL's inquiry on why they didn't attend the meeting.
If 2025 is a regular election year as expected, then Kurti’s government will become the first since independence to complete the full mandate of four years.
Opposition parties in Kosovo have demanded early elections, but earlier this year they failed to reach an agreement on how to go about holding them.
Osmani said the possibility of early elections still exists, but this could only occur with a vote of two-thirds of the National Assembly.
"Whether the political parties in the assembly are willing to make such a majority is their matter. Today, such willingness did not appear," Osmani said.
Eugen Cakolli of the Democratic Institute of Kosovo told RFE/RL that the president has until mid-October to set a date for the elections, but considering the electoral reform, she may want to decide earlier so that the Central Election Commission has more time to prepare.
He added that it is not in the interest of any political entity to hold the elections in the winter months of January or February when the weather is cold and the days are shorter.
Therefore, a solution could be found to hold the elections earlier, but this mainly depends on reaching an agreement, said Cakolli.
Artan Muhaxhiri, sociologist and political analyst from Pristina, told RFE/RL that there are currently no indications of the potential for any radical change in the Kosovar political spectrum.
"The Kurti government is in the comfort zone. It is working with the inertia of the great victory in the last elections and does not feel seriously threatened by the opposition, which has not yet found the key to decoding the ubiquitous populism," he said.
According to Muhaxhiri, during the election campaign it is expected that Kurti’s main topic will be the change of dynamics in the north of Kosovo, which he will present as "the first step in the long-term transformation of the country,” even though the situation is far from being solved.
"This will be his only advantage, because during the government so far, apart from damaging relations with strategic allies, he has not demonstrated a realistic vision for improving socioeconomic problems, attracting foreign investments, and infrastructural advancements," he said.
In the last two years, Kurti's government has worked intensively to establish power in the north of Kosovo, which has been resisted by the local majority Serbian population and which sometimes has been criticized by the international community.
Among the changes are the reregistration of vehicles with Serbian license plates, the conversion of driver's licenses, limitations on the use of the Serbian currency, and the closure of some institutions that work in the Serbian system.