Indirect presidential elections were held in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

on 22 February 2011 and 7 April 2011.

Background

As stipulated in the coalition agreement between the

Democratic Party of Kosovo The Democratic Party of Kosovo ( sq, Partia Demokratike e Kosovës; abbr. ''PDK'') is one of the largest political parties in Kosovo. It was originally a social-democratic party coming out of the demilitarised Kosovo Liberation Army after th ...

(PDK) and the

New Kosovo Alliance New Kosovo Alliance ( sq, Aleanca Kosova e Re, AKR) is a liberal political party in Kosovo. The party was founded on 3 May 2006, by Behgjet Pacolli. History In April 2007, a BBSS Gallup International/Index survey suggested that the AKR was the ...

(AKR), the AKR's leader

Behgjet Pacolli Behgjet Isa Pacolli ; sh, Behđet Isa Pacoli. (born 30 August 1951) is a Kosovar Albanian politician and businessman who served as the first deputy prime minister of Kosovo and minister of foreign affairs from 2017 to 2019 under the Ramush Harad ...

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.

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 A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

had not been reached in the first two rounds. Pacolli resigned on 30 March 2011 and was again replaced as Acting President by

Jakup Krasniqi Jakup Krasniqi (born 1 January 1951) is a Kosovo-Albanian politician and former acting President of Kosovo. He is former Chairman of the Assembly of Kosovo. In November 2020 he was arrested for charges of crimes against humanity and war crime fil ...

, the Assembly's speaker.

Second vote

In a second vote on April 7, the PDK, AKR, and the opposition

Democratic League of Kosovo The Democratic League of Kosovo ( sq, Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës, LDK) is the oldest and one of the largest political parties in Kosovo. At the legislative elections held on 24 October 2004 the party won 45.4% of the popular vote and 47 out ...

agreed on a compromise candidate: police commander

Atifete Jahjaga Atifete Jahjaga (; born 20 April 1975) is a Kosovar Albanian politician who served as the third President of Kosovo. She was the first female President of the Republic of Kosovo, the first non-partisan candidate and the youngest female head of ...

. She was elected with 80 votes of the 100 MPs present. 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 A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

however, ruled against shortening the term of the sitting president. and Jahjaga sat for the full term of five years. A decision was also made to hold early parliamentary elections in early 2013,Kosovo Elects New President To Resolve Political Impasse
Rttnews.com (2011-04-08). Retrieved on 2011-04-17. which was later held in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

{{Kosovan presidential elections Presidential elections in Kosovo

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

History of the Republic of Kosovo Annulled elections February 2011 events in Europe