Edi Rama

Edi Rama
Mayor of Tirana
In office October 2000 – July 2011
Preceded by	Albert Brojka
Succeeded by	Lulzim Basha
Minister of Culture, Tourism, Youth, and Sports of Albania
In office 1998–2000
Prime Minister	Fatos Nano
Personal details
Born	(1964-07-04) 4 July 1964 Tirana, Albania
Political party	Socialist Party of Albania
Spouse(s)	Matilda Makoci (div.) Lindita Basha

Edi Kristaq Rama (born Edvin Rama, on 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, publicist, professor, and former athlete. Currently he is the leader of the Socialist Party of Albania, the biggest opposition party in Albania.

He has served as board member at the local Soros Open Society Foundation of Albania, president of the Association of Mayors of Albania, and as Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports of Albania. Edi Rama was Mayor of Tirana for three terms from 2000 to 2011. He is married to Lindita Xhillari (née Basha) and has 2 children.

Personal history

Edi Rama was born to Kristaq Rama, a native of Durres and renown Albanian sculptor, and Aneta Rama (née Koleka), a graduate in medicine and niece of Spiro Koleka, a former member of the Albanian Politburo. As a teenager Rama got involved in sports by becoming a player of Dinamo, a leading basketball team, and the Albanian national team. Following the collapse of Communism in Albania, he became involved with the first democratic movements. He entered the student movement but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. At the same time, he published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione, while being a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania. During this time, he got engaged and later married actress Matilda Makoci, with whom he had a son, Gregor Rama. He separated from Makoci and in 1994 decided to emigrate abroad. Upon arriving in France, he conducted the life of an artist by taking part in many exhibitions with his close friend, Anri Sala. In January 1997, during one of his trips back to Albania he suffered severe injuries after being physically assaulted.

In 1998, Edi Rama was convened by the then Prime Minister Fatos Nano, and asked to become Minister of Culture of Albania. He accepted and immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways. In October 2000, he entered and won the race for the Tirana mayorship as Socialist Party candidate against writer Besnik Mustafaj. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign to return many portions of Tirana's center and Lana River into their original forms by demolishing hundreds of illegal buildings.

In 2003, he appeared before the Albanian parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen using a loudspeaker in sign of protest. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. In 2003, he won a second term by defeating lawyer Spartak Ngjela, and a third consecutive term by beating DP candidate Sokol Olldashi. During the latter campaign, his rivals published some photos of Rama in intimate poses on a nudist beach in southern France.

In October 2005, Rama became the leader of the Socialist Party of Albania following the resignation of Fatos Nano. As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. In 2010, Rama married Lindita Basha (also known as Lindita Xhillari), a civil society activist. In the 2011 local elections he lost by a small margin to a young candidate of the Coalition of the Citizen, Lulzim Basha. The elections were criticized by the monitors and the international community as they were decided in a debatable court ruling. The first ballot counting gave Rama the victory by a margin of 10 votes, but afterwards the Central Electoral Committee decided to open the ballot boxes and count the ballots cast in the wrong boxes. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as Mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban.

Life as a painter

Rama is also author of several personal painting exhibitions in Europe, North and South America, and other. Personal exhibitions include Janos Gallery, New York (1993), Place de Mediatheque, France (1995), Palais Jalta, Frankfurt (1997), Acud, Berlin (1993), São Paulo, Brazil (1994), National Gallery, Albania (1992) and Gallery XXI, Albania (1999). He is no longer active as an artist.

In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama.

Impact on Tirana

The most noted impact of Rama has been the many kiosk demolitions in the city since he took over. In an attempt to widen roads, he has authorized the bulldozing of private properties so that they can be paved over, thus widening streets. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition. Rama's Return to Identity project rid the city of many illegally constructed buildings on municipal lands such as local parks and the banks of the Lana. His Clean and Green project in 2000 resulted in the production of 96,700 square metres of green land and parks in the city and the planting of nearly 1,800 trees. He also ordered the painting of many old buildings in what has come to be known as Edi Rama colours (very bright yellow, green, violet). Rama's critics claim that he is focusing too much attention on cosmetic changes without fixing any of the major problems such as shortages of drinking water and electricity. Critics have accused him of corruption in issuing building permits while he was mayor.

Rama, a former artist, had this to say about his work as mayor: "It's the most exciting job in the world, because I get to invent and to fight for good causes everyday. Being the mayor of Tirana is the highest form of conceptual art. It's art in a pure state."

In October 2002, Edi Rama was given an award by Kofi Annan in light of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

In 2003, Rama was chosen to be a visiting professor in the 2002/03 Robert C. Wood Visiting Professorship of Public and Urban Affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Harvard University.

In December 2004, Rama was named the World Mayor 2004, in an international competition that took place over one year, based on direct voting by Internet, organized by the non-commercial organization CITYMAYORS, located in London. ku je

Rama was chosen by Time Magazine to be one of the 2005 European Heroes, a tribute given by the Magazine to 37 people who are changing the world for the better.

Political life in Socialist Party

Edi Rama is also the head of the left wing in Albania. He became head of SPA in October 2005. In the 2009 elections, SPA was the most voted party, but got only 65 seats on the parliament out of 140 because of the electoral system. SMI and DPA formed a coalition and a government, while SPA started a few protests for "the transparency of vote". Nowadays, the SPA members of the parliament have joined the Parliament sessions and co-work with their right-wing colleagues. Rama is being criticized by a group of SPA politicians like Ben Blushi, Kastriot Islami and Andis Harasani of leading the party without collaborators. These accusations may be because SPA is the only left party to not have a Secretary General. However, the second-most-powerful person in SPA is 59 year old Gramoz Ruçi, the head of the Parliamentarian group.

Rama took part in the 21 January 2011 Albanian opposition demonstrations where 4 people were killed and 150 injured. Recently, Rama has started to use social media tools such as Twitter or Facebook to communicate with the electorate and others in general.

Books

• Rama, Edi. Kurban. Dudaj: Tirane, 2011
• Rama, Edi. Edi Rama. 2009
• Rama, Edi and Ardian Klosi. Refleksione. 1991

See also

• Mayor of Tirana
• Tirana
• Anri Sala

External links

• Personal website
• Municipality of Tirana
• List of Rama's publications
• Edi Rama on the song Tirona
• Edi Rama news (in Albanian)

News articles

• Post 1990s Biography of Edi Rama (Pt 1), Zone e Ndaluar TV Show Template:Sq icon
• Post 1990s Biography of Edi Rama (Pt 2), Zone e Ndaluar TV Show Template:Sq icon
• Edi Rama wins the 2004 World Mayor Award
• CityMayors article
• Edi Rama: European Heroes 2005 by Time Magazine
• Regeneration man
• The mayor transforming Tirana
• You’ve got to tear this old building down

Further reading

• Budini, Belina. Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star, Tirana: UET Press, 2009. ISBN 978-99956-39-11-2