Kosovo lawmakers elect a new president in a late-night vote to avert snap election

Kosovo lawmakers recently chose economist and academic Justina Shiroka Pula as the nation's new president in a late-night vote, just ahead of a deadline that would have triggered an early election. This crucial moment arrives after a 19-month legislative stalemate and two previous parliamentary elections.

Pula secured 81 votes out of 120 in the 120-seat parliament, becoming the third female president in Kosovo's post-war history. She is the last-minute consensus candidate supported by both the ruling Self-Determination movement and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

The president's role in Kosovo is largely ceremonial; however, the president does influence foreign policy and serves as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Pula must endorse the law limiting the powers of the Special Chambers, a Hague-based court investigating war crimes committed during Kosovo's 1998-99 independence war against Serbia.

Protesters outside the parliament demanded that the legislature approve the law before Shiroka Pula's election. The court's recent verdicts against Kosovo's wartime rebel leaders, including former President Hashim Thaci, have sparked widespread criticism from Kosovo, who claims the KLA fought against Serbian oppression. Over 13,000 people were killed, and roughly 1 million ethnic Albanians were displaced during the conflict.