Albania elects top general as the country’s new president

By LLAZAR SEMINI
Associated Press

PERMET, Albania (AP) — Albania’s parliament elected its top military official as the country’s new president. That took place Saturday after no candidates were nominated for three rounds of voting. Gen.-Maj. Bajram Begaj won the post after the 140-seat Parliament voted 78 in favor, four against and one abstained. The governing left-wing Socialist Party nominated and voted for the 55-year-old Begaj after failing to reach a compromise with the opposition. Most of the opposition voted against him while another party boycotted the voting. Begaj is post-communist Albania’s eighth president and the third from the military ranks. The five-year presidency has a largely ceremonial role but has some authority over the courts and the armed forces.