TIRANA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Bajram Begaj, former Major General and Chief of General Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces (AAF), was elected on Saturday as the new president of Albania at a parliament session.

The name of Begaj for the post of the eighth president of the country was made public on Friday by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama following a meeting at the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party (SP).

SP lawmakers and party members proposed Begaj for the post of the new president and his candidature was voted with 78 votes in favor, four against and one abstained.

Begaj was born in the small town of Rrogozhina located in center-west of Albania on March 20, 1967. He is married to Armanda Begaj and is the father of two sons.

In 1989, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Tirana and was awarded the title of active officer in the Medicine specialty in 1998.

In July 2020, President Ilir Meta decreed Begaj for the post of Chief of General Staff of the AAF, the post which he held for nearly two years.

Prior to this post, Begaj served as the Commander of the Doctrine and Training Command of the AAF for a period of three years.

Begaj has held various leading posts, including the post of the deputy director of Mother Teresa University Hospital in Tirana, director general of the Central University Military Hospital, director of the Health Inspectorate, chief inspector and advisor of the Health Inspectorate at the General Staff of the AAF, chief of the Military Medical Unit and deputy director of the Trauma Hospital, as well as other duties in the AAF structures.

In addition, during his 31 years in the army, Begaj has attended various qualifications and specializations in the military and medical fields.

He has completed the high course for security and defense at the Academy of the Albanian Armed Forces, the advanced Postgraduate School of Medicine and the postgraduate specialization in the profile of Gastro-hepatology at the Medicine Faculty in Tirana University.

Moreover, Begaj has attended several courses abroad, including a course on Hospital Management and Strategic Medical Leadership in the United States (US), the International Senior Defense Management Course at the Institute of Defense Resource Management at the U.S. Navy Graduate School, and the Senior Executive Seminar held at the Marshall Center in Germany.

Begaj has a Doctor's Degree in Medicine and holds the title of associate professor in medicine. Enditem

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