Bajram Begaj, President of Albania (since Jul 24, 2022)

Bajram Begaj (born 20 March 1967) is an Albanian retired military officer and politician, who is currently serving as the 9th President of Albania since 24 July 2022.

Begaj, who has had a long career in the Albanian army, served as the 26th Chief of General Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces from July 2020 to June 2022. Although he is politically independent, on 3 June 2022 Begaj was officially nominated by the governing Socialist Party as the candidate to the fourth round of the 2022 presidential election. Begaj is the fifth president in the history of Albania to have a military background, after Ahmet Zogu, Ramiz Alia, Alfred Moisiu and Bujar Nishani.

Begaj is married to Armanda Begaj, with whom he has two sons, Dorian and Klajdi.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajram_Begaj

Ilir Meta, Former President of Albania (Elected on Apr 19, 2017)

Ilir Rexhep Metaj also known as Ilir Meta (born March 24, 1969) is an Albanian politician who is the President-elect of Albania, due to take office on 24 July 2017. He previously served as the 31st Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2003 and again from 2009 to 2010, and he has been Speaker of the Albanian Parliament since 2013. He also held positions as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy, in both left-wing and right-wing governments.

As a member of the Socialist Party of Albania (PS), Meta was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002. He subsequently founded the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) in 2004 and continues to lead the party. From 2009 to 2013, the LSI was a member of the governing coalition with the right-wing Democratic Party of Albania. Meta served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy of the Republic of Albania. Prior to that, he held the Chairmanship of the Parliamentary Commission of European Integration.

Following the 2013 parliamentary election, Ilir Meta was elected as Speaker of Parliament on September 10, 2013. On 28 April 2017 he was elected the 7th President of Albania with 87 votes (62.14%) out of 140 Members of Parliament. He is due to take office on 24 July 2017, succeeding Bujar Nishani.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilir_Meta

Bujar Nishani, Former President of Albania (since July 24, 2012)

Bujar Faik Nishani (born surname also Mehmeti) (born 29 September 1966) is an Albanian politician who has been President of Albania since July 2012. At the time of his election, Nishani was a member of the Democratic Party of Albania, an MP, and the Minister of Interior. Constitutionally he had to resign all three posts due to his election as President. The Albanian Parliament elected Nishani as President with a simple majority of 73 votes out of 140, without consensus from the opposition.

Bujar Nishani was born in Durrës, Albania. In 1988 he finished the Military Academy “Skënderbej”. In 1996 he followed his master studies in San Antonio, Texas and California. In 2004 he graduated at the Law Faculty of University of Tirana. He completed his master in European Studies. He is married to Odeta Nishani and has 2 children. Nishani suffers from a disease. He is operated in brain blood vessels and now his left hand and his left leg move with difficulty.

Bujar Nishani joined the Democratic Party of Albania in 1991, after the fall of communism. He worked as chief of foreign relations in the Ministry of Defense and then as head of the office of NATO relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1996 he returned as the cabinet member of the Ministry of Defense.

After the Democratic Party lost the 1997 parliamentary election, he lost the job and became chairman of the NGO for Euro-Atlantic Military[clarification needed]. In 2001 he was elected general secretary of the DP’s[clarification needed] branch in Tirana and in 2004 member of the Tirana city council.

He won the 2005 election in the 34th electoral zone in the capital against the Minister of Police and Security, Igli Toska. After leading the National Security Parliamentary Commission he was nominated as Minister of the Interior by Prime Minister Sali Berisha, and in September 2009, after a second electoral victory he was nominated as Minister of Justice. In 2011 he replaced Lulzim Basha as Minister of the Interior.

On 12 June 2012, after winning the presidential election, Nishani resigned as Minister of Interior.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bujar_Nishani

Bamir Topi, Former President of the Republic of Albania

Professor Doctor Bamir Topi was born in Tirana on April 24, 1957 in a native Tirana family of intellectual and civil traditions. He is married and has two daughters. His parents paid particular attention to the education of their three sons and this is demonstrated by the professional and social success they have achieved. The family of Prof. Dr. Topi has given a great contribution to the development of Tirana ever since its foundation up to the present times. After graduating from the Agricultural University of Tirana, from the Veterinary Medicine Faculty with high grades, Prof. Dr. Bamir Topi started work in Petrela where he was distinguished for the dedication and abilities in the fields of Toxicology and Pharmacology. For these reasons, in 1984 he was appointed a Scientific Researcher at the Institute of Veterinary Scientific Researches until 1995.

During the period 1987-1990 he attended post-graduate studies in Italy in the field of Molecular Biology and at the conclusion of those studies, he received the title Doctor of Sciences. After his return from Italy, Prof. Dr. Topi was appointed Director of the Food Safety and Veterinary Institute, a position held until the end of 1995. During the activity in this Institute as the Director and Scientific Researcher, Prof. Dr. Topi gave a western world physiognomy to this important institution of the country. Alongside his work as Scientific Researcher, Prof. Dr. Topi has carried out a dense academic activity in preparing the educational curricula of the Toxicology and Pharmacology subjects for the students and postgraduates of the Veterinary Medicine Faculty while at the same time he was also a Lecturer of these subjects for about a decade. Due to this activity and to numerous scientific and pedagogical publications, Mr. Topi earned the title of Professor in 1995. Alongside the scientific and pedagogical activity, Prof. Dr. Topi has carried out an intense political activity as well which originates at the beginning of the democratic movement in Albania in 1990. He was first elected as a parliamentarian of the Assembly of Albania in 1996 and was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Food where he served until 1997 when the Democratic Party became the opposition. Prof. Dr. Topi has been elected thrice as parliamentarian of the Assembly of Albania, twice as Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party and Head of the DP Parliamentary Group. Throughout all his political and public activity Prof. Dr. Topi has been distinguished and widely hailed as a politician of a moderated profile, as very active in resolving the crisis between the ruling majority and opposition and as a protagonist of political agreements and various parliamentary initiatives. Prof. Dr. Topi has incessantly been present in the Albanian and foreign mass media with his constant and coherent positions regarding the different domestic realities. Prof. Dr. Topi was elected President of the Republic of Albania on July 20, 2007.

Alfred Moisiu, Former President of Albania