28 April 2017•Update: 28 April 2017
By Talha Ozturk
BELGRADE, Serbia
Albanian lawmakers on Friday chose parliamentary speaker Ilir Meta as president, amid an opposition boycott.
Meta, chair of the Socialist Movement for Integration -- the junior partner in Albania’s coalition government -- was the sole remaining candidate after four rounds of voting.
He becomes the seventh president of Albania, despite the opposition boycott of Friday’s vote.
Current President Bujar Nishani's five-year term will end on July 24. Amid constitutional wrangling, Meta will take over if lawmakers fail to elect a new president by then.
Meta is on record as describing Albania’s relation with Turkey as “robust and traditional”. Speaking in 2016, Meta also thanked Turkey for its “tremendous effort to help Syrian citizens during the refugee crisis”.
