Kosovo Parliament Elects Justina Shiroka Pula as President

Justina Shiroka Pula was elected president of Kosovo early on October 7, following a last-minute political agreement that averted the automatic dissolution of parliament. Shiroka Pula won the first round of a secret ballot with 81 votes in the 120-seat legislature, narrowly surpassing the 80-vote requirement.

The election followed a deal in which lawmakers approved legal changes to restrict the powers of a Hague-based war crimes court. The vote occurred just before a midnight deadline, though the process officially concluded 12 minutes after that cutoff, leaving the result open to potential legal challenges.

Following her victory, Shiroka Pula stated that the mandate "does not belong to one person alone," but rather to the citizens, institutions, and the state for which previous generations sacrificed.