Albania elects top general as new president

Albania’s parliament elected a top military official on Saturday as the country’s new president after no candidates were nominated in three rounds of voting.

General-Major Bajram Begaj won the post after the 140-seat Parliament voted 78 in favor, four against and one abstained. Begaj is post-communist Albania’s eighth president and the third from the military ranks.

A handover ceremony was planned for July 24 and he has been the army’s chief-of-staff since July 2020. Before that, he held several army posts, including ones in public and military hospitals, and trained in the U.S. on strategic medical leadership and defense management.