Gramoz Ruçi (born 6 December 1951) is an Albanian politician, serving as the head of the parliamentarian group of the ruling

Socialist Party of Albania The Socialist Party of Albania ( sq, Partia Socialiste e Shqipërisë, PS or PSSh) is a social-democratic political party in Albania. It has been described as centre-left, to left-wing. It was founded on 13 June 1991. The PS is an associate of ...

until 2017. In September 2017, he assumed the office of the Chairman of the

Parliament of Albania The Parliament of Albania ( sq, Kuvendi i Shqipërisë) or Kuvendi is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Albania; it is Albania's legislature. The Parliament is composed of no less than 140 members elected to ...

for the new parliamentary session.

Early life

Ruçi was born in

Salari Salari ( sq-definite, Salaria) is a community in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Tepelenë. Notable people * Selam Musai, People's Hero of Albania *Gramoz Ruçi ...

, a village in Tepelenë District, southern Albania. He graduated in Chemistry and worked as a teacher in

Progonat Progonat is a village in the former Kurvelesh municipality, Gjirokastër County, Albania. It is the largest village of upper Kurvelesh and until 1992 was the administrative center of the commune. At the 2015 local government reform it became part ...

. There, he met his future wife, who was from the Goxharaj family. They married in 1976. From 1985, Ruçi entered politics.

Political career

He was named as the Labour Party's First Secretary of Tepelena District in 1988, and in 1990 he was named Minister of the Interior; however, he kept that position for only two and a half months. He was also the minister responsible of the infamous Directorate of State Security (Albanian: Drejtoria e Sigurimit të Shtetit), commonly called the Sigurimi. Its goal was protecting Albania from dangers, but de facto the Sigurimi served to suppress political activity in the population and hold the existing political system in place.From 1992 to 1996 he was Secretary General of the Socialist Party, the successor party of the Labour Party. Beginning in 1997 he was a member of parliament for the Socialist Party. In 2000, he was chosen as leader of the parliamentary group, remaining in that post until 2005. Since 2009, he has again served as head of the parliamentary group.

Personal life

Ruçi's daughter Ridvana is a senior official at the Albanian ombudsman. She completed her studies in law at the Public University of Athens. His son Ledian, born in 1985, completed his bachelor's degree for International Studies in Athens. Gramoz speaks Albanian, Greek and Italian. He has two granddaughters and a grandson, Mia, Hera, and Roi, from his daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruci, Gramoz 1951 births Living people People from Tepelenë Labour Party of Albania politicians Socialist Party of Albania politicians Members of the Parliament of Albania Government ministers of Albania Interior ministers of Albania 21st-century Albanian politicians Speakers of the Parliament of Albania