Albanian Premier Edi Rama announced he has appointed Bledar Çuçi as the Minister of the Interior after Sandër Lleshaj’s resignation.

Çuci currently holds the post of the Minister of Agriculture. He has been a member of the cabinet ever since the Socialist victory in the elections of 2-13, as Minister of State for Local Issues, leading the territorial administrative reform.

He becomes the forth Interior Minister in a little more than seven years of Rama’s government. His predecessor Lleshaj stepped down after the murder by a patrol police of the 25-year-old Klodian Rasha that provoked violent protests in the capital Tirana and confrontation with police.

Çuçi will be replaced as Minister of Agriculture by Milva Ekonomi, who has been Minister of the Economy earlier.

It seems the Prime Minister has been careful in the selection of the new names, to avoid another confrontation with President Ilir Meta, who, two years ago, refused to decree Gent Cakaj as Foreign Minister, while many polemics accompanied the appointment of Lleshaj too.