TIRANA, Oct 6 /ATA/ Justina Shiroka Pula was elected President of Kosovo on 7 October, in a vote that lasted 13 minutes after the constitutional deadline for electing the country’s new president had expired.
In the final hour before the deadline to elect Kosovo’s new head of state, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) accepted Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s nomination of Justina Shiroka Pula, averting a further escalation of the country’s political crisis.
She was elected in the first round of voting, securing 81 votes in favour — the threshold required at this stage.
Following her election as President of Kosovo, Justina Shiroka Pula took the oath of office before members of the Assembly.
“I swear that I will devote all my strength to safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo,” she said as part of her oath.
Her rival, Eliza Hoxha, received one vote, while two ballots were declared invalid.
The leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Bedri Hamza, said that her nomination was acceptable for the post.
Shiroka Pula is an economist and academic, and the first woman to lead the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo (ASHAK), an institution established in 1975.
She completed her primary and secondary education in Pristina, graduating from the Faculty of Economics in 1976. She completed her postgraduate studies in economic development theory and policy in Zagreb in 1984, before earning a doctorate from the University of Pristina with a thesis entitled “Demographic Investments and the Economic Development of Kosovo.”
Shiroka Pula worked at the People’s Bank of Kosovo before beginning her career as a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Pristina in 1978.
According to her biography published by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo (ASHAK), she also undertook postdoctoral studies at the University of Linz in Austria and the University of Arizona in the United States.
From 2008 to 2011, she served as Minister of Energy and Mining as a representative of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). From 2011 to 2014, she served as a PDK member of the Kosovo Assembly.
Following the war, she also became involved in civil society, particularly in initiatives aimed at empowering women, promoting gender equality, and supporting business and entrepreneurship development.
In the final hour before the deadline for electing Kosovo’s new head of state, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) accepted Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s proposal to nominate Justina Shiroka Pula as president.
The Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) pledged to support the PDK’s draft legislation to amend the Law on the Specialist Chambers.
The Legislation Committee has determined that both candidates for president, Justina Shiroka-Pula and Eliza Hoxha, meet the requirements set out in the Constitution and the law.
The extraordinary session of the Kosovo Assembly has concluded.
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