Albania names Socialists' Edi Rama as new prime minister
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Bujar Nishani has named Edi Rama as Albania's prime minister, giving him the mandate to create a new Cabinet after a landslide victory by Rama's Socialist Party-led leftist coalition in June elections.
Rama, 49, will create a 20-member Cabinet together with the Socialist Movement for Integration Party of Ilir Meta, 44, who was elected Parliament speaker on Tuesday.
The leftist alliance campaigned against widespread corruption and on a pledge to take Albania closer to European Union membership, winning 83 of Parliament's 140 seats.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The president has up to 10 days to approve the other 19 Cabinet members.
Under Albania's electoral system, Parliament's mandate expires more than two months after a parliamentary election. The outgoing government continues operating in the interim.