Edi Rama - Personal History

Personal History

Edi Rama was born to Kristaq Rama, a native of Durrës and renowned Albanian sculptor, and Aneta Rama, 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 a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania. During this time, he became 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 asked by Prime Minister Fatos Nano to become Minister of Culture. 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 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 count 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.