Kosovo elects new president just before constitutional deadline

Kosovo’s parliament elected economist Justina Shiroka Pula as the country’s new president overnight, just before the constitutional deadline expired, bringing an end to a months-long institutional crisis.

Before the vote, parliament adopted a new law on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers for war crimes, a move that part of the opposition had made a condition for participating in the presidential election, CE Report quotes STA.

The election of Justina Shiroka Pula was made possible by an agreement between Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s ruling Self-Determination (Vetëvendosje) party and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which allowed them to avoid the dissolution of parliament and new snap elections.

The vote began just minutes before the constitutional deadline expired at midnight, with Shiroka Pula elected in the first round with 81 votes. At least 80 votes were required for election in the 120-seat parliament, according to Kossev.info.

Shiroka Pula served as Minister of Energy and Mining in Hashim Thaçi’s first government from 2008 to 2011 and later served as a PDK lawmaker. Until now, she had headed the Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts. She succeeds Albulena Haxhiu, who had served as acting president for the past six months.

Following her election, she was sworn in before parliament. She said she accepted the new position with a sense of responsibility and pledged to be the president of all citizens. “This mandate does not belong to one person alone, but to the citizens and the state,” she said.

Restrictions on the Court’s Powers

According to Kosovo media, the parties reached an agreement on the new president only in the final hours before the deadline. The PDK accepted Kurti’s proposal for Shiroka Pula to become president, while Self-Determination agreed that lawmakers would vote on amendments to the law governing the Kosovo Specialist Chambers before electing the president.

Parliament approved the amendments in the first reading on Monday and in the second reading shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The changes restrict the powers of the court, which recently handed down lengthy prison sentences at first instance to four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), including former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi.

The Specialist Chambers are part of Kosovo’s judicial system but operate in The Hague. They were established to prosecute crimes allegedly committed by KLA members during and after the war. Among other changes, the amendments cap the maximum prison sentence at 15 years, allow appeals to Kosovo’s Supreme Court, permit sentences to be served in Kosovo and enable presidential pardons.

The election of a new president brings to an end the nearly continuous political and institutional crisis that has gripped Kosovo since the parliamentary elections in February 2025. Since then, the country has held two additional snap parliamentary elections, the latest in June this year, after parliament failed to elect a new president.

Photo: Pexels (Free Stock Photos)