Kosovo's parliament elected economist and academic Justina Shiroka Pula as the country's president in a late-night vote, narrowly avoiding another snap parliamentary election.
Shiroka Pula received 81 votes in the 120-seat parliament, one more than the required two-thirds majority. She was elected after lawmakers reached a last-minute political agreement before the constitutional deadline.
Editorial Insight
Key Highlights
Important points readers should notice.
Justina Shiroka Pula has been elected president of Kosovo.
She received 81 votes in the 120-seat parliament.
The required threshold was 80 votes.
Her election prevented another snap parliamentary election.
The vote followed a last-minute political agreement.
Shiroka Pula is an economist, academic and former economy minister.
Her election followed an agreement between Prime Minister Albin Kurti's ruling Vetevendosje party and the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo. The agreement included parliamentary approval of changes concerning the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the Hague-based court handling war-crimes cases linked to the Kosovo conflict.
Failure to elect a president within the constitutional period would have resulted in the dissolution of parliament and another early parliamentary election. Kosovo had already held an early parliamentary election in June.
Shiroka Pula, born in 1953, is an economist, professor and president of the Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts. She previously served as economy minister from 2008 to 2011.
Editorial Analysis
Why This Matters
The election helps Kosovo avoid another immediate parliamentary election after months of political uncertainty and disagreement over the presidency.
The election comes amid continuing political tensions over the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and its cases involving former Kosovo Liberation Army figures. On September 16, former President Hashim Thaci and three other former KLA leaders were sentenced to a combined 81 years in prison for war crimes committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
