President of Albania

On 10 June 2012, the day before the fourth round of presidential election in the Parliament, the majority parties met to discuss new candidates for the country's president, as the previous three rounds of voting had been failures. The proposed list of candidates from this meeting included the name of Bujar Nishani, then Minister of the Interior, but it was agreed that the ruling party's candidate would be Artan Hoxha.^[13] The following day, Hoxha, due to fierce criticism from the opposition, withdrew his candidacy.^[14] After the vote was postponed to the afternoon, the government finally proposed Nishani.^[15] In the parliamentary session, Nishani won with 73 votes, all from the ruling party lawmakers; opposition deputies from the Socialist Party, in an attempt to boycott it, did not take part in the voting despite being present.^[16][17] He was sworn in on 24 July 2012, becoming the country's youngest president ever; in his inaugural speech, he announced that his priority was to reform the judicial system, as well as Albania's integration into the European Union.^[18][16][19]

His first state visit abroad was in Kosovo in August 2012. After meeting with President Atifete Jahjaga, Nishani expressed Albania's support for Kosovo's independence, stating that it was irreversible and that dialogue was necessary to resolve any problems with Serbia.^[20] The Kosovar issue was high on his diplomatic agenda. In 2013, he did not attend the summit of ministers of the South-East European Cooperation Process, which was held on 31 May in Macedonia, because, due to objections from Serbia, the president of Kosovo was not invited.^[21] In 2016, he called on the United Nations to recognize Kosovo's independence.^[22]

On 16 November 2012, Nishani received the body of the King Zog I, who had died in exile more than 50 years earlier.^[23]

In July 2013, he called a referendum on 22 December for citizens to decide on trash imports to the country.^[24] In August 2013 he ignored opposition from the head of the Albanian Armed Forces, Xhemal Gjunkshi, and transferred ownership of a large building in Tirana from the Army to the Democratic Party of Albania for the party's new headquarters.^[25] After the September parliamentary election, he named Edi Rama as the new Prime Minister.^[26]

Nishani demanded to the President of Greece Karolos Papoulias, in November 2013, that the Greek parliament abolish the war against Albania, declared in 1940, in an attempt to resolve above all the Cham issue. He added that Albania was ready to resolve the maritime border delimitation dispute with Greece in accordance with international law.^[27]

In 2014, he criticized the lack of transparency in the process of approval of the package of laws on the armed forces and the Defense Intelligence and Security Agency,^[28] and rejected the reform of the Albanian judicial system, as he considered that it should be carried out by judges and not politicians.^[29]

Due to the protests in Macedonia in May 2015 in which several protesters died, he called to "investigate as soon as possible and shed light quickly and completely on this dark and unclear incident that has shaken not only Kumanovo, but also the international community".^[30]

The parliament, on 17 December 2015, passed the law prohibiting those with a criminal record for certain serious crimes from holding public office. In an unusual gesture, Nishani presented a decree for the law to take effect the same moment of parliamentary approval.^[31]

In April 2016, he opposed the law presented by the government equating citizenship with arms, considering it "inadequate" and "not positive"^[32] The election of nine new Supreme Court judges on 26 June 2016 caused much controversy at the top of the judiciary, as five of them accused Nishani and president of the Supreme Court of acting without complying with the legally prescribed form.^[33]

During his final address to the United Nations, at the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2016, he stated that Albania would address global challenges in close cooperation with others, and that Albania's actions would include increasing humanitarian aid, ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change and implementing all commitments in the security realm.^[34]

During most state visits abroad, Nishani's policy was maximally oriented towards strengthening good-neighborly relations, citing its support for Kosovo's participation in all multilateral regional and international activities.^[35]

Nishani's term ended on 24 July 2017 and was succeeded by Ilir Meta, who took office after winning the 2017 Albanian presidential election.^[36]

Foreign honours

• Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2014)^[47][48]
• Raoul Wallenberg Award (United States, 2015)^[49]
• First class Order of the Balkan Mountains (Bulgaria, 2016)^[50]
• Collar of the Order pro Merito Melitensi (Order of Malta, 2016)^[51]
• Order of Freedom (Kosovo, 2017)^[52]
• Knight Grand Collar of the Equestrian Order of Michael Archangel (Royal House of Ghassan, 2017) ^[53]