Live: Assembly approves amendments to the Special Chambers in the second reading

On 06.10.2026, at 11:50 p.m., the Kosovo Assembly continued reviewing the second item on the agenda, concerning the election of the country’s president. The chairwoman of the parliamentary group of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Arbërie Nagavci, presented Justina Shiroka-Pula as a candidate for president.

At 11:46 p.m., the Kosovo Assembly approved, in the second reading, amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers. Following the vote on the amendments, the draft law received 88 votes in favor. With this decision, the review of the draft law, which had been approved in the first reading on October 5, was concluded.

At 11:39 p.m., the procedures for electing the president of Kosovo were recalled. The president is elected by the Assembly through a secret ballot, while candidates must secure the signatures of at least 30 deputies.

At least 80 votes are required in the first two rounds. If no candidate reaches this number, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the second round proceed to the third round. At this stage, the election requires at least 61 votes.

If the president is not elected in the third round either, the Assembly is dissolved and new elections must be held within 45 days. The presidential term begins after the oath is taken before the Assembly, lasts five years and allows only one re-election.

At 11:35 p.m., less than 30 minutes remained until the constitutional deadline for electing Kosovo’s new president expired. The Assembly’s extraordinary session had begun, and a vote on the president was expected to take place, along with the review and voting on the Draft Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on the Specialist Chambers of Kosovo, known as the Law on the Special Court.

The developments came after a political agreement on the presidential candidacy. The Democratic Party of Kosovo accepted Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s proposal for former PDK minister Justina Shiroka-Pula to run for the position of President of Kosovo.

Shiroka-Pula’s candidacy was presented as part of efforts to reach a political agreement and avoid the failure of the presidential process within the prescribed deadline. The same session was also expected to consider the draft law amending and supplementing the Law on the Specialist Chambers, which had been approved the previous day in the first reading with 91 votes in favor, no votes against and no abstentions.

At 11:32 p.m., deputies gathered at the Kosovo Assembly, while the Committee on Legislation began procedures to pave the way for a second-reading vote on the amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers.

The draft law had been approved in the first reading on October 5, but the final vote had been suspended because of political disagreements.

At 11:31 p.m., the motion proposed by the LVV was passed. The extraordinary session on the Law on the Specialist Chambers and the election of the president was expected to begin within minutes.

At 11:27 p.m., deputies of the Kosovo Assembly began the extraordinary session on the Special Court.

Also at 11:27 p.m., following the day’s developments, the PDK accepted the proposal for Justina Shiroka-Pula to be a candidate for president, creating the possibility for the electoral process to proceed in the Assembly.

The expected session was to address two main issues: the election of the new president and the approval, in the second reading, of amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers. Prime Minister Albin Kurti had proposed that the draft law amending the Law on the Special Court be voted on first, followed by Shiroka-Pula’s candidacy.

A day earlier, the Assembly had approved in the first reading the Draft Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on the Specialist Chambers with 91 votes in favor, no votes against and no abstentions.