Kosovo parliament elects new president, averting snap election

Key facts

• Justina Shiroka Pula was elected president of Kosovo with 81 votes.
• The election occurred just before a constitutional deadline.
• A deal to limit the powers of a war crimes court preceded the election.
• Former President Hashim Thaci was sentenced to prison for war crimes.
• Shiroka Pula is an economist and president of Kosovo's Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Kosovo's parliament elected economist Justina Shiroka Pula as the country's largely ceremonial president on Wednesday, narrowly avoiding snap parliamentary elections. Shiroka Pula secured 81 votes in the 120-seat assembly, one more than the required two-thirds majority, just before a constitutional deadline.

The election followed a political agreement between the ruling Vetevendosje party and the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo to limit the powers of a war crimes court in The Hague. Critics had argued that the court's punishments were too harsh.

Last month, the court sentenced former President Hashim Thaci and three other individuals to a combined 81 years in prison for war crimes committed during Kosovo's 1998-1999 conflict with Serbia. Police used tear gas and water cannons on Monday to disperse demonstrators who were demanding approval of changes to the court's mandate.

The presidency in Kosovo is primarily ceremonial but has historically been a source of political instability due to the high threshold required to elect a president. Shiroka Pula, born in 1953, is also the president of Kosovo's Academy of Sciences and Arts and previously served as minister of the economy from 2008 to 2011.