Albania is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic,in which the president of Albania is the head of state and the prime minister of Albania is the head of government in a multi-party system. The executive power is exercised by the Government and the prime minister with its Cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Albania. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system of Albania is laid out in the 1998 constitution. The Parliament adopted the current constitution on 28 November 1998. Historically Albania has had many constitutions. Initially constituted as a monarchy in 1913,Albania became briefly a republic in 1925,and then a authoritarian monarchy in 1928. In 1939 Albania was invaded by Fascist Italian forces,imposing a puppet state,and later occupied by Nazi German forces. Following the partisan liberation from the Nazis in 1944 a provisional government was formed,which by 1946 had transformed into a communist one-party state. In March 1991 democracy was restored with multi-party elections.
The prime minister of Albania,officially the prime minister of the Republic of Albania,is the head of government of Albania. The office of the prime minister is a core institution in the politics of Albania formed after the Albanian declaration of independence on 28 November 1912. Since that time,the nation has navigated a dynamic political evolution spanning distinct periods,encompassing a monarchy,a communist regime and the eventual democratic order. In 1912,Ismail Qemali was inaugurated as the first prime minister of Albania,guiding the nation toward sovereignty amidst the complex conditions in the Balkans. In 1944,Enver Hoxha implemented a radical change in government,transforming Albania into an authoritarian and isolationist communist regime. In 1991,the nation transitioned into a democracy that marked a notable shift,when Fatos Nano emerged as the first post-communist prime minister of Albania.
Sali Ram Berisha is an Albanian cardiologist and conservative politician who served as the president of Albania from 1992 to 1997 and as the 32nd prime minister of Albania from 2005 to 2013. Berisha has served as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania since 2022. He has previously held the position of Chairman from 1990 to 1992 and 1997 to 2013. He is the leader of opposition in Albania.
The president of Albania,officially styled the President of the Republic of Albania,is the head of state,commander-in-chief of the military and the representative of the unity of the Albanian people.
Edi Rama is an Albanian politician and painter who has been serving as the 33rd and incumbent prime minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. He was Minister of Culture,Youth and Sports from 1998 to 2000. First elected mayor of Tirana in 2000,he was reelected in 2003 and 2007.
Fatos Thanas Nano is an Albanian socialist politician who served as Prime Minister of Albania in 1991,from 1997 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2005. He was the first leader and founder of the Socialist Party of Albania and a member of the Albanian Parliament from 1991 to 1993 and 1997 to 2009. He reformed the anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist ideology of the Labor Party of Albania into social democracy for its successor,the Socialist Party. During his leadership,the Socialist Party,as a result of reforms,joined the Socialist International and Party of European Socialists. Nano was a candidate in the 2007 presidential election but did not win. He again tried in the 2012 presidential election,but he did not even qualify as a candidate,because the leaders of parties in Parliament obstructed their respective MPs to elect him as candidate in the elections.
The Democratic Party of Albania is a conservative political party in Albania. It has been the largest opposition party in the country since 2013.
Azem Shpend Hajdari was the leader of the student movement in 1990–1991 that led to the fall of communism in Albania. He then became a politician of the Democratic Party of Albania (DP). He symbolizes the start of the democratic era in Albania. He was a member of the Albanian parliament and the Chairman of the Defence Parliamentary Commission. He was shot to death in Tirana on September 12,1998 at age 35.
Ilir Rexhep Meta is an Albanian politician. He served as the president of Albania from 24 July 2017 to 24 July 2022.
The Parliament of Albania or Kuvendi is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Albania;it is Albania's legislature. The Parliament is composed of no less than 140 members elected to a four-year term on the basis of direct,universal,periodic and equal suffrage by secret ballot. The Parliament is presided over by the Speaker,who is assisted by at least one deputy speaker. The electoral system is based on party-list proportional representation. There are 12 multi-seat constituencies,corresponding to the country's counties.
Genc Pollo is an Albanian conservative politician. An Orthodox Christian and trained historian,Pollo was co-founder and first spokesman of the Albanian Democratic Party. He first became a member of the Albanian Parliament in 1996 and has held various ministerial posts since 2005.
Nikola Šainović is a Serbian politician. A close associate of Slobodan Milošević,he held several important state functions of Serbia and FR Yugoslavia during the 1990s. He has been a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia since the party's foundation.
Albania and the United States formally established diplomatic relations in 1922,a decade after the Albanian Declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire. German and Italian occupation of Albania during World War II severed cooperation,and the establishment of an Albanian communist government in 1946 kept diplomacy paused for most of the 20th century. During the fall of communism in Albania and the dissolution of the Soviet Union,the two nations re-established relations in 1991.
The fall of communism in Albania,the last such event in Europe outside the Soviet Union,started in December 1990 with student demonstrations in the capital,Tirana,although protests started in January that year in other cities like Shkodër and Kavajë. The Central Committee of the communist Party of Labour of Albania allowed political pluralism on 11 December and the largest opposition party,the Democratic Party,was founded the next day. March 1991 elections left the Party of Labour in power,but a general strike and urban opposition led to the formation of a "stability government" that included non-communists. Albania's former communists were routed in elections in March 1992 amid economic collapse and social unrest,with the Democratic Party winning most seats and its party head,Sali Berisha,becoming president.
In 1991,the Socialist Party of Albania,with specific social democratic ideology took control of the country through democratic elections. One year later the Democratic Party of Albania won the new elections. After 1990,Albania has been seeking a closer relationship with the West. What followed were deliberate programs of economic and democratic reform,but the implementation of capitalism led to the proliferation of pyramid schemes. Chaos in late 1996 to early 1997,as a result of the collapse of these pyramid schemes,alarmed the world and prompted the influx of international peacekeeping forces. In 1995,Albania was accepted into the Council of Europe and requested membership in NATO and is a potential candidate country for accession to the European Union. The workforce of Albania has continued to emigrate to Western countries,especially Greece and Italy.
Bashkim Gazidede was an Albanian mathematician,author,politician,and a chief of the national intelligence agency.
Edmond Haxhinasto is an Albanian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Albania from 2011 to 2013.
Parliamentary elections were held in Albania on 22 March 1992,with a second round of voting for eleven seats on 29 March. The result was a victory for the opposition Democratic Party of Albania,which won 92 of the 140 seats. After the elections Aleksandër Meksi became prime minister and Sali Berisha became president.
Sabit Brokaj was an Albanian politician,doctor,and professor. In 1991 Brokaj served as the Minister of Health of Albania.
The Bufi Government better known as the Government of Stability was an interim government formed after the resignation of the previous Nano government due to the aggravated situation in the country after the events of 2 April 1991 where 4 opposition supporters were killed in Shkodër during a anti-communist protest that led to the burning of the Shkodra Labor Party Committee. The Nano government resigned on 4 June 1991,and the next day the then-President Ramiz Alia,began negotiations to form a comprehensive government whose main objective would be to restore stability to the country,from which it took the name "Stability Government". Ylli Bufi was accepted also by the opposition to be appointed as Prime Minister,while one of the most prominent figures of the Democratic Party,such as Gramoz Pashko,was appointed Deputy Prime Minister.
