Lawmakers elected Justina Shiroka-Pula with 81 votes early on October 7 after a deal that also limited a Hague war-crimes court. The vote averted automatic dissolution of parliament.
Kosovo's parliament elected Justina Shiroka-Pula president early on October 7, finishing a ballot that began minutes before a midnight constitutional deadline and avoiding the automatic dissolution of the assembly.
RFE/RL reported that she won 81 votes in the 120-seat legislature, one more than the 80 required in the first round. Bloomberg described her as an economist who heads Kosovo's Academy of Sciences and Arts and who emerged as a compromise candidate late on Tuesday. She previously served as energy and mining minister from 2008 to 2011 and as a PDK lawmaker from 2011 to 2014.
The vote followed a last-minute agreement between Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the largest opposition party. Immediately before the presidential ballot, parliament approved amendments to the law on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in a second reading, with 88 votes in favor, RFE/RL said. Those amendments restrict the powers of the Hague-based war-crimes court. PDK leader Bedri Hamza accepted her candidacy and nominated Eliza Hoxha as the opposing candidate.
After being sworn in, Shiroka-Pula told parliament the mandate did not belong to one person alone but to citizens, institutions and the state. Bloomberg said the deal ended a dispute that had threatened a fourth election in less than two years.
No further implementing rules for the court amendments had been published in the accounts reviewed. The election itself closed the immediate risk of a snap parliamentary vote.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Justina Shiroka-Pula said the mandate belonged to citizens, institutions and the state.
- Bedri Hamza accepted her candidacy and put forward Eliza Hoxha as the opposing candidate.