PRISTINA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kosovo's parliament elected economist Justina Shiroka Pula as the country's largely ceremonial president just before a constitutional deadline, avoiding another snap election in one of the poorest countries in Europe.

She received 81 votes, one more than she needed, in the 120-seat parliament in the early minutes of Wednesday. Failure to elect a new president would have triggered snap parliamentary elections in the Balkan country, as it did in June.