Kosovo’s parliament elected Justina Shiroka Pula as president in the early hours of October 7, narrowly avoiding snap elections after a last-minute political deal.
The secret ballot began six minutes before a midnight deadline, with lawmakers racing to complete the vote before parliament’s automatic dissolution. Shiroka Pula secured 81 votes in the 120-seat legislature, exceeding the required 80. The process concluded 12 minutes past midnight, raising the possibility of a legal challenge, though none was immediately announced.
The breakthrough followed a day of deadlock between Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje party and the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). Kurti proposed Shiroka Pula, an economist and former energy and mining minister, late in the evening. PDK leader Bedri Hamza accepted her candidacy, while nominating Eliza Hoxha as the opposing candidate.
The vote came after parliament approved amendments to the law governing the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which the PDK had demanded before electing a president. The amendments, passed with 88 votes, sharply narrow the court’s jurisdiction, cap prison sentences at 15 years, require sentences to be served in Kosovo, and make those convicted eligible for presidential pardons. Protesters outside parliament applauded as lawmakers approved the changes.
Shiroka Pula, the first woman to lead Kosovo’s Academy of Sciences and Arts, addressed parliament after being sworn in. “This mandate does not belong to one person alone. It belongs to our citizens, our institutions, and the state for which so many generations sacrificed,” she said.
