Academic and economist Justina Shiroka Pula was elected the new President of the Republic of Kosovo by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. The 73-year-old won wide consensus in an overnight parliamentary session, thus averting a potential institutional crisis ahead of an inflexible constitutional time limit.
The Constitutional Court of Kosovo ruled October 6 as the deadline to elect a head of state, with the legislature dissolved if they failed to agree on a head of state. In the end, the vote was successful, providing much-needed continuity in political governance in the country.
The parties offering opposition rejected the Prime Minister, Albin Kurti’s, nominees in the Office of the Prime Minister for the position of Shiroka Pula, which is the reason they were nominated. The new proposal secured much-needed support from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) which could prove to bring a bipartisan deal into her candidacy.
81 out of 84 lawmakers participated and voted for Shiroka Pula. PDK lawmaker Eliza Hoxha got one vote while two ballots were invalid. When the news of her election was announced, Shiroka Pula was sworn in outside the parliament building where she promised to represent all citizens and to stand as a bulwark for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Lawmakers needed to meet a key PDK demand to approve a number of legislative changes to the Hague-based court that will prosecute former Kosovo Liberation Army commanders before they were allowed to proceed with the presidential vote. The changes reduce the court’s jurisdiction in certain cases, provide for the transfer of some legal proceedings to Kosovo and introduce new rules on sentencing and how convicted persons will serve their sentences. These amendments brought a lot of joy and celebration to the people waiting outside the parliament.
As a new member of the Office of the President, Shiroka Pula has over 25 years of experience in economics and governance. From 2008 to 2011, she was Kosovo’s minister of energy and mining, and from 2011 to 2014 she was a member of parliament. In December 2025, she was elected as the head of Kosova Academy of Sciences and Arts for the first time.
