The election of Justina Shiroka-Pula as President of Kosovo has attracted the attention of the international news agency Reuters, which has described the vote as a development that ended the risk of early parliamentary elections.
According to Reuters, Shiroka-Pula received 81 votes in the 120-member Kosovo Assembly, securing just one more vote than the minimum required for her election.
The agency emphasizes that the failure to elect the president would lead the country to another parliamentary election process.
Reuters also quotes Shiroka-Pula’s statement after her election as head of state.
“This mandate does not belong to just one person. It belongs to our citizens. I will be the president of all citizens,” she declared.
According to Reuters, the election of Shiroka-Pula is related to the political agreement between the Vetëvendosje Movement of Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the Democratic Party of Kosovo. The agreement also included changes to the Law on Specialized Chambers of Kosovo in The Hague.
In its article, Reuters also refers to the protests that took place on Monday in Pristina, where the Kosovo Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters. The protesters demanded legal changes that would limit the powers of the Specialized Chambers.
The international agency also mentions the judgment of September 16 against former president Hashim Thaçi and three other former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Reuters notes that the post of president in Kosovo has a mainly ceremonial role, but the process of electing the head of state has been a source of political instability in the past, due to the required majority in the Assembly.
In its profile of the new president, Reuters describes Justina Shiroka-Pula as an economist, professor of economics and president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo.
