Parliament of Albania

Building of the Albanian parliament during the pre-war period.

The legislative system in Albania has evolved under many different regimes, most notably in the period before 1947. From 1920 to 1923, Albania's legislature was known as the National Council (Albanian: Këshillit Kombëtar).[9] During the period of the Albanian Republic, the country had a bicameral legislature, consisting of a Senate (Albanian: Senati) and a Chamber of Deputies (Albanian: Dhoma e Deputetëve).[9] From 1928 to 1939, during the era of the Albanian Monarchy, Albania's legislature was known simply as the Parliament (Albanian: Parlamenti).[9]

During the Italian occupation of Albania and the existence of the 1939-43 Albanian Kingdom, Albania's legislature was known as the Supreme Fascist Cooperative (Albanian: Korporativi i Epërm Fashist).[9] From 1943 to 1944, during Nazi occupation of Albania and the formation of the 1943-44 Albanian Kingdom, Albania's legislature was known as the National Assembly (Albanian: Kuvendi Kombëtar).[9] From 1944 to late 1945, a National Anti-fascist Liberation Council (Albanian: Këshilli Antifashist Nacional Çlirimtar) was formed by politicians opposing the Nazi puppet government.[10]

Later during multiple periods of regime changes, Albania's legislature was known as the Constituent Assembly (Albanian: Asambleja Kushtetuese or Kuvendi Kushtetues). This occurred in 1924, prior to the formation of the Albanian Republic, in 1928, prior to the formation of the first iteration of the Albanian Kingdom, and from 1946 to 1947, prior during the era Democratic Government of Albania and prior to the formation of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania.[9]

From 1947 to 1999, during the era of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania's legislature was known as the People's Assembly (Albanian: Kuvendi Popullor).[9] Since 1997, the parliament has been known simply as the Parliament of the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Kuvendi i Republikës së Shqipërisë).[9][lower-alpha 1] Currently the President is elected by the parliament. The current members were chosen in the 2017 Albanian parliamentary election.

The 140 members of the Parliament serve four-year terms, with elections held every four years, or earlier in the relatively rare case that the Parliament is dissolved prematurely by the President.[19] 100 members are elected directly.[3] Elections for the Parliament are held 60 to 30 days before the end of the mandate and not later than 45 days after its dissolution. The seats of the Parliament are elected in a 12 constituency by closed list proportional representation. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method with a 2.5% electoral threshold. The Parliament can be dissolved by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister if the latter has lost a vote of confidence in the Parliament, if the recommendation is made and accepted before the Parliament acts to elect a new Prime Minister.[20]

The two largest political parties in Albania are the Socialist Party (PS) and the Democratic Party (PD). The last elections were held on 25 June 2017. Following is a list of political parties with representation in the Parliament by the 2017 Albanian parliamentary election:

Logo	Name	Abbr.	Founded	Leader	Ideology	MPs
	Socialist Party of Albania Partia Socialiste e Shqipërisë	PS	15 August 1991	Edi Rama	Social democracy, Third Way, Progressive, Centre-left, Western, Modernism, Social liberalism	74 / 140
	Democratic Party of Albania Partia Demokratike e Shqipërisë	PD	19 December 1990	Lulzim Basha	Liberal conservatism, Conservatism, Nationalism, Pro-Europeanism, Centre-right, Economic liberalism	43 / 140
	Socialist Movement for Integration Lëvizja Socialiste për Intigrim	LSI	23 September 2004	Monika Kryemadhi	Social democracy, Progressivism, Centre-left	19 / 140
	Party for Justice, Integration and Unity Partia për Drejtësi, Integrim dhe Unitet	PDIU	1 March 2011	Shpëtim Idrizi	Nationalism, Right-wing, Ethnic nationalism, Cham issue	3 / 140
	Social Democratic Party of Albania Partia Socialdemokrate e Shqipërisë	PSD	23 April 1991	Ëngjëll Bejtaj	Social democracy, Centre-left	1 / 140

During the political crisis, opposition parties announced that all their MP's in the Parliament would resign from the parliament on February 22, more than 40 seats were vacated and the Central Elections Commission started in the following days the procedures to replace the MP's with mostly unknown and inexperienced figures that were part of the candidate lists during the 2017 election.

After weeks of filling the vacancies, in the end the parliament had this composition.

Logo	Name	Abbr.	Founded	Leader	Ideology	MPs
	Socialist Party of Albania Partia Socialiste e Shqipërisë	PS	15 August 1991	Edi Rama	Social democracy, Third Way, Progressive, Centre-left, Western, Modernism, Social liberalism	74 / 140
	Party for Justice, Integration and Unity Partia për Drejtësi, Integrim dhe Unitet	PDIU	1 March 2011	Shpëtim Idrizi	Nationalism, Right-wing, Ethnic nationalism, Cham issue	3 / 140
	Social Democratic Party of Albania Partia Socialdemokrate e Shqipërisë	PSD	23 April 1991	Ëngjëll Bejtaj	Social democracy, Centre-left	1 / 140
	Democratic Group Grupi Demokrat					8 / 140
	Right-wing group Grupi partitë e djathta					7 / 140
	Independent Të Pavarur					9 / 140
	Vacant Seats					18 / 140