Editing Rexhep Meidani

{{Short description|Albanian politician (born 1944)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}{{BLP sources|date=February 2010}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Rexhep Meidani
| image               = Илир Мета, Румен Радев и Реджеп Мейдани (06-03-2020) (cropped).jpg
| honorific-prefix    = 
| nationality         = [[Albanians|Albanian]]
| order               = [[President of Albania]]
| term_start          = 24 July 1997
| term_end            = 24 July 2002
| primeminister       = [[Fatos Nano]]<br />[[Pandeli Majko]]<br />[[Ilir Meta]]<br />[[Pandeli Majko]]
| predecessor         = [[Sali Berisha]]
| successor           = [[Alfred Moisiu]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1944|8|17|df=y}}
| birth_name          = Rexhep Qemal Meidani
| birth_place         = [[Tirana]], [[Albanian Kingdom (1943–1944)|German Occupied Albania]] (modern [[Albania]])
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| spouse              = Lidra Karagjozi
| children            = 2 (Adea, Denion)
| party               = [[Socialist Party of Albania|Socialist Party]]
| profession          = [[Physicist]]
| signature           = Rexhep Meidani (nënshkrim).svg
| caption             = Meidani in 2020
}}

'''Rexhep Qemal Meidani''' ({{Audio|Rexhep Meidani.ogg|listen}}; born on 17 August 1944) is an [[Albanians|Albanian]] [[physicist]], professor, diplomat and politician. Meidani was the [[president of Albania]] from 1997 to 2002, and the second to be elected after the [[1991 Albanian parliamentary election|first multi-party elections]] in 1991.<ref>{{cite web|last=Meidani|first=Rexhep|title=President|url=http://www.president.al/?p=293&lang=en|publisher=Albanian Presidency|access-date=2013-01-25|archive-date=2017-09-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929135116/http://president.al/?p=293&lang=en|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Rexhep Meidani  |url=https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/personnage/Rexhep_Meidani/132622|access-date=2021-10-05|publisher=Éditions Larousse|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Once a physicist: Rexhep Meidani|url=http://live.iop-pp01.agh.sleek.net/2015/01/28/once-a-physicist-rexhep-meidani/|date=2015-01-28|access-date=2021-10-05|website=Physics World}}</ref>

== Education and work in academia ==
Meidani earned a degree in physics from the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the [[University of Tirana]] in 1966. He completed postgraduate studies at the [[Université de Caen|University of Caen]] in France in 1974. He also holds [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]]s from the [[Paris-Sud University|University of Paris XI]] and the University of Tirana. 

From 1966 to 1996, Meidani held various roles at the University of Tirana, including professor, department chair, and later, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences.<ref name="club madrid">{{Cite web |title=Rexhep Meidani President of the Republic of Albania, club madrid member |url=http://www.clubmadrid.org/miembro/rexhep-meidani/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128121249/http://www.clubmadrid.org/miembro/rexhep-meidani/ |archive-date=2018-01-28 |access-date=2021-10-05 |website=Club de Madrid |language=en}}</ref> During this period, he authored numerous studies, books, and articles, both within and outside of Albania. Alongside [[Eqrem Cabej]] and [[Nelson Cabej]], he is recognized as one of the prominent academics in the country.

== Political career ==
Meidani's political career began in the 1990s. He assumed the role of the chair of the Central Election Commission during the inaugural multiparty elections in 1991 and was a member of the Presidential Council in the same year. From 1992 to 1996, he actively participated in civil society, serving as the chair of the Board of the Albanian Center of Human Rights from 1994 to 1996. Joining the [[Socialist Party of Albania|Socialist Party]] in 1996, Meidani was elected its Secretary General from 1996 to 1997.

Following his election to the [[Albanian Assembly]] in the parliamentary elections of June 1997, Meidani became a member of parliament. Subsequently, after the left coalition, led by the Socialist Party, emerged victorious in the elections, he was proposed by the SP and, on 24 July 1997, was elected as the [[President of Albania]] by the Albanian Assembly. He held the office until 2002, with [[Petrit Ago]] as his counsellor.

In the 2005 Socialist Party Leadership Convention, convened to select a successor to Fatos Nano, Meidani faced defeat at the hands of the present Chairman of the Socialist Party, [[Edi Rama]]. 

Meidani is a member of the [[Club of Madrid]].<ref name="club madrid" />

== Honours ==
* [[File:Order of the Star of Romania - Ribbon bar.svg|40px]] Grand Cross with Chain of the [[Order of the Star of Romania]] (1999)
* [[File:Ribbon of an order of king Tomislav.png|40px]] Knight Grand Cross of the [[Grand Order of King Tomislav]] ("For outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendship and development co-operation between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Albania." – 4 April 2001)
* Honorary Degree Recipient from The [[American University of Rome]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aur.edu/search/site/american%20university%20rome%20discover%20aur%20honorary%20degrees%20american%20university%20of%20rome|title=Search|website=The American University of Rome|language=en|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Politics of Albania]]
* [[President of Albania]]
* [[Presidents of Albania]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

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{{Succession box|title=[[President of Albania]]|before=[[Sali Berisha]]|after=[[Alfred Moisiu]]|years=1997–2002}}
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{{Heads of state of Albania}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meidani, Rexhep}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Albanian Sunni Muslims]]
[[Category:Politicians from Tirana]]
[[Category:University of Tirana alumni]]
[[Category:University of Caen Normandy alumni]]
[[Category:Albanian physicists]]
[[Category:Electoral commissioners of Albania]]
[[Category:Presidents of Albania]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Star of Romania]]
[[Category:Albanian socialists]]
[[Category:20th-century Albanian scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century Albanian scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Albanian politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Albanian politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century presidents in Europe]]