President of Albania

President of the Republic of Albania
Presidential Standard
Incumbent Edison Soni since 24 July 2012
Residence	Presidential Palace, Tirana
Term length	Five years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Ahmet Zogu (the first republic) Ramiz Alia (the second and current republic)
Formation	21 January 1925 (the first republic) 11 January 1946 (the second and current republic)
Salary	257.000 Lekë
Website	president.al

The President of the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Presidenti or Kryetari i Shqipërisë) is the head of state of the Republic of Albania. The President of Albania is indirectly elected by the Assembly of Albania.

The first President of Albania was Ahmet Zogu. The current President is Bujar Nishani, since 24 July 2012.

Ever since the foundation of the Albanian state on November 28, 1912, Albania has experienced different models of governance, including an international protectorate, a monarchy, a state-party regime and the parliamentary republic as well. Throughout all this period the function of the President of Republic and Head of State has been exercised in various forms.

The very first government headed by Ismail Qemali who also enjoyed the competences of the head of State was created in 1912. On February 6, 1914, Prince Wilhelm Wied was appointed as Head of State by the Ambassadors’ Conference. From September 1914 until January 1920 Albania was transformed into a battle field and experienced the change of a number of governments, where the post of the Head of State was played by different governments – regencies. On January 8, 1920 the Lushnjë Congress elected the High Council composed by four members, one of whom would exercise the functions of the Head of State by introducing and bringing back the parliamentarian way of governance. In 1924, Fan Noli was elected as head of government while exercising at the same time the functions of the head of State. After the frequent changes in governance, the National Assembly approved and passed the republican form of regime on January 25, 1925 and elected Ahmet Zogu as the President of Republic. Albania was proclaimed a Monarchy and Ahmet Zogu was crowned the King of Albanians on September 28, 1928. After Albania was occupied by Italy in April 1939 and the unification of the two countries, Victor Emmanuel III became the King of Albania. From 1943-1944 the regencies’ governance was introduced once again under the German occupation.