Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
Through a Facebook post, it is alleged that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated the acting Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, on his victory in the early parliamentary elections of December 28, 2025, describing him as a "world-class leader."
The publication was made by the account "Albert Shabani" on January 1, 2026, and was then republished by several other accounts and pages.
The publication contains an image of Starmer with the caption: "Congratulations to Prime Minister Albin Kurti on his convincing victory. He is increasingly being recognized as a world-class leader." While the image description is written "Prime Minister of Great Britain".
The truth?
After verifying the facts, it turns out that Starmer did not make such a statement. Hibrid.info has verified this through a search on Google and the official websites of the Government of Great Britain and Kosovo or Starmer's social media accounts, but neither Kurti nor the Lëvizja Vetëvendosje party.
- Hibrid.info searched on "Google" with the words "Starmer congratulates Kurti". Last week's findings, coinciding with the time of the Facebook claim, do not result in any articles reporting Starmer's congratulations to Kurti.
- Likewise, searching for the word "Kosovo" in website The UK Government's announcement does not result in any official announcement of congratulations from Starmer to Kurti. Such a claim is not found on Starmer's social media accounts either (X, Facebook). "Congratulations" is not displayed until now even on the website of Government of Kosovo. Neither on the page in Facebook The Embassy of the United Kingdom in Kosovo has no such announcement.
- As Vetëvendosje Movement nor its president, Albin Kurti, have not announced any congratulations from Starmer.
The publication by "Albert Shabani" until the moment of treatment by Hibrid.info has received about 3900 likes, over 100 comments and over 240 shares. Based on the comments, it can be understood that the accounts have taken the claim as true.
The same image has also been published by other Facebook pages and accounts. (see here, here, here and here)
Election results
Albin Kurti and his party, the Vetevendosje Movement, have received more than 50 percent of the vote, according to the party's website. Central Election Commission from the processing of about 95 percent of polling stations for the early parliamentary elections.
After the counting is complete, the process must move on to the stages of announcing the results, possible appeals, and finally certification.
Analyze:
The claim by the "Albert Shabani" Facebook account that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated Albin Kurti on his election victory, calling him a "world-class leader", is untrue.
Verification by Hibrid.info shows that such a statement does not exist and has not been published in any official source or official account. It has not been found on the official government accounts of either country or on social media.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.