How Albania Is Governed

The structure

• The Kuvendi (Assembly) — 140 members, elected for four years by proportional representation in twelve multi-member constituencies matching the counties.
• The President — head of state, elected by the Assembly for a five-year term; the role is largely ceremonial with some appointment and veto powers.
• The Council of Ministers — the government, led by the Prime Minister, who is the effective head of the executive.
• The judiciary — restructured by the 2016 justice reform, which created the High Judicial Council, the High Prosecutorial Council, and SPAK, the special anti-corruption structure.

Local government

Sixty-one municipalities, each with a directly elected mayor and council, grouped for administrative purposes into twelve counties. Local elections are held separately from parliamentary ones.

The 2016 justice reform

Albania undertook a constitutional overhaul of its judiciary in 2016, including the vetting of every serving judge and prosecutor for professional competence, financial probity and links to organised crime. A large share of those assessed were dismissed or resigned. It is the central reform against which the EU measures Albanian progress.

A note on current officeholders

This Atlas does not print the names of current officeholders on this page, because a reference page that goes stale is worse than one that points you somewhere current. For who holds which office today, use the Assembly's own site, the President's office and the Council of Ministers.