Kosovo’s left-wing opposition Vetevendosje party was headed for a landslide win in parliamentary elections on Sunday, partial results showed.

The party was in line for some 48% of the vote with 80% of the ballots counted, according to the Central Election Commission.

The triumph nearly doubled the party’s last electoral showing in 2019, capturing a growing hunger for fresh leadership in troubled Kosovo.

The next two largest parties trailed far behind, with around 13% and 17% respectively for the outgoing centrist Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), a party of former rebels who have long dominated the politics in Kosovo.

The snap poll came after a year of upheaval in which the coronavirus pandemic deepened social and economic crises in a country which declared independence 13 years ago.

Already home to one of Europe’s poorest economies, Kosovo is now struggling through a pandemic-triggered downturn, with vaccinations yet to start.

Both camps admitted defeat, with outing Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti from the LDK pledging to be a “constructive opposition” in parliament.

In the capital Pristina, jubilant Vetevendosje supporters honked horns, set off fireworks and gathered in Pristina’s main square to cheer their victory.

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Once known for provocative stunts such as unleashing tear gas in parliament, Vetevendosje party started as a street movement in the 2000s protesting against local elites and international influence in Kosovo, which was a UN-protectorate after the war.

It joined electoral politics in 2011 and has tamped down its more radical antics in recent years.

Led by 45-year-old former political prisoner Albin Kurti, the party focused its campaign on an anti-corruption platform, accusing past leaders of squandering Kosovo’s first years of independence through graft and mismanagement.

Since splitting off from Serbia over a decade ago, Kosovo has mostly been run by the former commanders who led the late 1990s rebellion of ethnic Albanian guerrillas against Serb forces.