Kosovo elected economist Justina Shiroka Pula as its new president early Wednesday, narrowly avoiding another snap parliamentary election. She secured 81 votes in the 120-seat parliament, just above the required threshold.
Lawmakers completed the vote shortly before a constitutional deadline. If parliament had failed to elect a president, Kosovo would have faced another early election.
“This mandate does not belong to just one person. It belongs to our citizens,” Shiroka Pula said after taking office. She pledged to serve citizens regardless of political, ethnic or social differences.
Justina Shiroka Pula Secures 81 Votes
Shiroka Pula received 81 votes in the secret ballot. Her only rival, Eliza Hoxha, received one vote, according to reports from Kosovo.
Her election followed a last-minute political agreement involving Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s ruling Vetevendosje and the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo.
Before electing the president, parliament approved changes to the law governing the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. Lawmakers passed the amendments with 88 votes.
The court has become a major political issue in Kosovo. In September, it sentenced former President Hashim Thaci and three others to a combined 81 years in prison for war crimes linked to the 1998-1999 conflict.
Protests over the court also took place in Pristina this week. Police used tear gas and water cannon during clashes with demonstrators on Monday.
Who Is Kosovo’s New President?
Born in 1953, Justina Shiroka Pula is an economist, academic and former government minister.
She has served as president of Kosovo’s Academy of Sciences and Arts and as an economics professor. She also held a ministerial position between 2008 and 2011.
Kosovo’s presidency is largely ceremonial. However, electing a president has repeatedly created political difficulties because parliament needs a two-thirds majority during the initial rounds of voting.
Shiroka Pula’s election prevented another parliamentary dissolution and snap election. Kosovo had already held an early election in June after lawmakers failed to resolve the previous presidential deadlock.
The new president took the oath of office shortly after parliament elected her.
