Justina Shiroka Pula
Justina Shiroka-Pula Inaugurated as Kosovo’s President
Justina Shiroka-Pula was inaugurated as Kosovo’s president after parliament elected her by a majority vote on Tuesday evening.
In a ceremony outside the Government building, Justina Shiroka-Pula was inaugurated as Kosovo’s president on Wednesday, just hours after parliament elected her in a last-minute vote that averted the possible dissolution of the legislature that would cause snap elections.
Shiroka-Pula received 81 votes from the 83 MPs who took part in Tuesday night’s vote, held shortly before midnight.
The inauguration ceremony was held in the courtyard of the Presidency building in Prishtina in the presence of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, former Presidents, political party leaders, ambassadors, ministers, religious leaders, and other senior officials.
Following the ceremonial parade in the courtyard of the Presidency, the proceedings continued inside the presidential office, where Shiroka-Pula formally took over the post. She received the key to the office, the Constitution of Kosovo, and the official documents related to the handover of duties.
Messages of congratulations followed after Shiroka-Pula’s election, including from officials in neighbouring countries and Kosovo’s international partners.
Albania’s President Bajram Begaj was among the first to congratulate her: “In every challenge and at every step towards a European future, Albania and Kosovo will stand together,” he wrote on X.
Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar also congratulated Shiroka-Pula, expressing her expectation of close cooperation between the two countries.
“I look forward to good and constructive cooperation between Slovenia and Kosovo, both at the bilateral level and within the Brdo-Brioni Process. I wish you every success in your important mandate,” she wrote on X.
The EU’s representative in Kosovo, Dirk Schuebel, congratulated the new president.
“With hopes for renewed political and institutional stability, I look forward to working with her, Kosovo’s institutions & the broad political spectrum on moving the country closer to the European Union,” he wrote on X.
British Ambassador to Kosovo Jonathan Hargreaves also wished Shiroka-Pula success, saying he looked forward to working with the president and Kosovo’s institutions to “deepen our long-standing partnership as Kosovo looks ahead to its multiethnic, democratic, and Euro-Atlantic future,” he wrote on Facebook.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti described the election as a sign of institutional stability. “The Republic has a new president, Professor Justina Shiroka-Pula; Kosovo has stable institutions,” Kurti wrote on Facebook.
Her election was welcomed by the Kosovo Women’s Network, which described it as an “important step for women’s representation and leadership in the country’s highest institutions.”
The organisation said that greater representation of women in senior institutional positions contributes to “building a more equal and democratic society.”
Newly elected President Shiroka-Pula is an economist and the director of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo since December 2025.
From 2008 to 2011, she served as Kosovo’s Minister of Energy and Mining, in a government led by Thaçi as Prime Minister. She was also part of the PDK parliamentary group from 2011 to 2014.
Shiroka-Pula is the third woman to serve as president of Kosovo, following Atifete Jahjaga and Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu.
