NA July 2002); prime minister
appointed by the president

Legislative branch: unicameral People's Assembly or Kuvendi Popullor
(140 seats; 100 are elected by direct popular vote and 40 by proportional
vote for four-year terms) election results: percent of vote by party -
PS 41.5%, PD and coalition allies 36.8%, NDP 5.2%, PSD 3.6%, PBDNJ 2.6%,
PASH 2.6%, PAD 2.5%; seats by party - PS 73, PD and coalition allies
46, NDP 6, PSD 4, PBDNJ 3, PASH 3, PAD 3, independents 2 elections:
last held 24 June with subsequent rounds on 8 July, 22 July, 29 July,
19 August 2001 (next to be held NA June 2005)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (chairman is elected by the People's
Assembly for a four-year term)

Political parties and leaders: Agrarian Party or PASH [Lufter XHUVELI];
Albanian National Front (Balli Kombetar) or PBK [Shptim ROQI]; Albanian
Republican Party or PR [Fatmir MEDIU]; Albanian Socialist Party or PS
(formerly the Albania Workers Party) [Fatos NANO, chairman]; Christian
Democratic Party or PDK [Zef BUSHATI]; Democratic Alliance or PAD
[Nerltan CEKA]; Democratic Party or PD [Sali BERISHA]; Group of Reformist
Democrats [Leonard NDOKA]; Legality Movement Party or PLL [Ekrem SPAHIA];
Liberal Union Party or PBL [Teodor LACO]; New Democratic Party or NDP
[Genc POLLO]; OMONIA [Vagjelis DULES]; Party of National Unity or PUK
[Idajet BEQUIRI]; Social Democratic Party or PSD [Skender GJINUSHI];
Unity for Human Rights Party or PBDNJ [Vasil MELO, chairman]

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: ACCT, BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI,
EAPC, EBRD, ECE, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS,
ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, OIC, OPCW,
OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOMIG, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WToO, WTrO

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Dr. Fatos TARIFA chancery: 2100 S Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 FAX:
[1] (202) 628-7342 telephone: [1] (202) 223-4942

Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Joseph LIMPRECHT embassy: Rruga Elbasanit, Labinoti #103, Tirana mailing
address: U. S. Department of State, 9510
[355] (4) 247285 FAX:
Flag description: red with a black two-headed eagle in the center

Economy Albania

Economy - overview: Poor and backward by European standards, Albania is
making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy. The
governmen