2011 Kosovan presidential elections

Indirect presidential elections were held in Kosovo on 22 February 2011 and 7 April 2011.

February 2011 Kosovan presidential election

22 February
120 members of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo 81 (1st & 2nd rounds) or 61 (3rd round) electoral votes needed to win
Nominee Behxhet Pacolli Party New Kosovo Alliance Electoral vote 54, 58, 62 Percentage 51.67%
President before election Fatmir Sejdiu Democratic League of Kosovo President-designate Behxhet Pacolli New Kosovo Alliance

April 2011 Kosovan presidential election

7 April
120 members of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo 81 (1st & 2nd rounds) or 61 (3rd round) electoral votes needed to win
Nominee Atifete Jahjaga Suzan Novoberdali Party Independent AKR Electoral vote 81 19 Percentage 67.5% 15.83%
President before election Behxhet Pacolli New Kosovo Alliance President-designate Atifete Jahjaga Independent

Background

As stipulated in the coalition agreement between the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR), the AKR's leader Behgjet Pacolli was to be elected president by the coalition's MPs. However, not all members of the PDK were in favour of this.

Election

First vote

It took three rounds of voting for Pacolli to be elected; he got 54, 58 and 62 votes respectively. Only 67 MPs were present, with the 53 opposition MPs boycotting the election.[1][2]

Resignation of Pacolli

The election was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court on 28 March 2011 with a vote of 7 to 2, as the necessary quorum had not been reached in the first two rounds.[3][4] Pacolli resigned on 30 March 2011 and was again replaced as Acting President by Jakup Krasniqi, the Assembly's speaker.[5]

Second vote

In a second vote on April 7, the PDK, AKR, and the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo agreed on a compromise candidate: police commander Atifete Jahjaga. She was elected with 80 votes of the 100 MPs present.[6]

It was also agreed that she would only serve on an interim basis, with a direct presidential election planned for 2012 after the necessary constitutional changes have passed. The Constitutional Court however, ruled against shortening the term of the sitting president.[7] and Jahjaga sat for the full term of five years.

A decision was also made to hold early parliamentary elections in early 2013,[8] which was later held in 2014.

References

1. KosovaLive Archived 2013-04-14 at the Wayback Machine. KosovaLive (2011-02-14). Retrieved on 2011-04-17.
2. Pacolli Is Kosovo's New President | Politics Archived 2011-02-26 at the Wayback Machine. Newkosovareport.com. Retrieved on 2011-04-17.
3. News – Kosovo president elected "unconstitutionally" Archived 2011-05-30 at the Wayback Machine. B92. Retrieved on 2011-04-17.
4. Constitutional court rules recent Kosovo presidential poll illegal | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 28.03.2011. Dw-world.de. Retrieved on 2011-04-17.
5. News – Pacolli resigns as Kosovo president Archived 2011-04-01 at the Wayback Machine. B92. Retrieved on 2011-04-17.
6. Hajdari, Ismet. (2011-04-07) AFP: Kosovo swears in top woman cop as president. Google.com. Retrieved on 2011-04-17.
7. "Judgement of 20.07.2012 n° KO 29/12 and KO 48/12" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
8. Kosovo Elects New President To Resolve Political Impasse. Rttnews.com (2011-04-08). Retrieved on 2011-04-17.