Bamir Topi elected Albania's new president

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

TIRANA (AFP) — Albania's parliament Friday elected Bamir Topi from the ruling Democratic party as the country's new president, after three failed attempts to choose a leader raised the spectre of early general polls.

Out of 90 deputies present at the session, 85 voted for Topi, while his rival, Neritan Ceka, head of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, won only five votes.

"I will be the president of all Albanians... I will give my best for Albania's integration into the European Union and NATO," Topi told AFP after the vote.

Topi, 50 and a father of two, is a biology professor and deputy president of the Democratic party of Albania's Prime Minister Sali Berisha. He will succeed President Alfred Moisiu for a five-year mandate.

A former...