PRISTINA — Kosovo lawmakers elected Justina Shiroka Pula as the country's new president on October 7, 2026. Lawmakers also approved a law limiting the powers of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

Shiroka Pula secured 81 votes in the 120-seat parliament during a late-night parliamentary session shortly before a constitutional deadline that would have triggered a snap election. She was backed by the ruling Self-Determination movement and the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo. Shiroka Pula will become Kosovo’s third female president since independence.

The role of president in Kosovo is largely ceremonial, though office holders serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and play a role in foreign policy. President Vjosa Osmani’s term expired in April. Thousands of protesters gathered outside Parliament demanding the legislature pass the law limiting the powers of the war crimes court.

The election followed over two weeks of protests after The Hague-based court convicted four Kosovo wartime rebel leaders of war crimes on September 16, 2026. Former President Hashim Thaci was among those convicted and sentenced to between 13 and 25 years in prison. Protesters called for changes to the law governing the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers, including measures affecting prison terms and where convicted people serve their sentences.

The opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo proposed amendments aimed at curbing the tribunal, including capping prison sentences at 15 years and allowing convicts to serve sentences in Kosovo. On October 2, 2026, Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government concluded there were no legal obstacles to the PDK initiative and forwarded its assessment to the parliament. Kosovo’s parliament approved the initiative at first reading with 91 votes in favour.

Police deployed tear gas and water cannon outside the Assembly on October 6, 2026, following clashes involving fireworks and bottles. Shiroka Pula must endorse the law limiting the power of the Hague court for it to become binding.

"Today, I accept with great honor and full responsibility the duty of President of the Republic of Kosovo," Shiroka Pula said. "This mandate does not belong to one person alone, it belongs to our citizens, our institutions, and the state for which many generations have sacrificed."

Shiroka Pula is an economist and academic who recently served as president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. She became the first woman to lead the Kosova Academy of Sciences and Arts (ASHAK). Born in Pristina in 1953, she graduated from the University of Pristina’s economics faculty. The University of Pristina has been a key institution in Kosovo's academic and political development, with several former officials and leaders having graduated from its faculties.

Shiroka Pula completed postgraduate studies in the theory and policy of economic development at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb. She earned a doctorate researching the relationship between demographic investment and Kosovo’s economic development. She worked at the National Bank of Kosovo and served as Kosovo’s minister of energy and mining from 2008 to 2011. She was a Democratic Party of Kosovo member of parliament from 2011 to 2014.

Why It Matters

The election averts a constitutional crisis that would have triggered snap elections, while the approved law challenges the authority of the war crimes tribunal following recent convictions. As the new president must endorse this legislation for it to become binding, her decision will determine whether proposed limits on prison terms and detention locations are implemented. This outcome directly affects the enforcement of sentences for convicted wartime leaders and responds to public demands regarding the court's powers.