Albania’s parliament on Saturday elected a top military official as the country’s new president after no candidates were nominated in 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 Begaj, 55, after failing to reach a compromise with the opposition on a candidate to replace President Ilir Meta, and no independent candidate was nominated.
Most of the opposition 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 and the chosen candidate is expected to stand above partisan divisions. The president holds some authority over the judiciary and the armed forces and is limited to two terms.
Begaj was elected among six candidates, according to Socialists’ leader and Prime Minister Edi Rama, adding that no candidates of the governing majority were taken into consideration.
