Sali Kelmendi (31 May 1947 – 7 February 2015) was an engineer and a politician. One of the founders of the

Democratic Party of Albania The Democratic Party of Albania (, PDSH), also known as the Democratic Party (, PD), is a Conservatism, conservative political party in Albania. It has been the largest opposition party in the country since 2013 and has dominated the Albanian ...

in 1990.

Political career

In the early 1990s, he worked at the Ministry of Education, where he covered vocational education. In the period of great movements, in the years '90-'91. After being elected as the head of the independent trade union for the Ministry of Education, he participated in the founding of the Democratic Party of Albania. Kelmendi was the first democratically elected mayor of Tirana in the democratic elections of July

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. During the years 1992-1996, over 90% of enterprises and 100% of homes were denationalized. Also a lot of work was done in the housing of the politically persecuted people. Thus, he contributed in the Tirana's transformation from a centrally

planned economy A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...

to a market oriented system. Mainly during the term his temporary permits were given for small tin kiosks to develop small business in the city as well as to reduce unemployment., the housing of the homeless as well as the politically persecuted, the restoration of a number of public works were carried out. During the period when Kelmendi ran the Municipality of Tirana, the Democratic Party won 5 consecutive elections in the city, namely the elections of March 22, 1992, the local elections of July 1992, the referendum on the Constitution in 1994, the elections of May 26, 1996, the local elections in October 1996. In this way, he is the only one who has brought victory to this party in this city. During 1997-1999, Kelmendi actively continued participated in the Democratic Party after being replaced by Brojka. In 1999, together with a group of other members of the Democratic Party, help create the group of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

. In where he acted as the director of the administration of the party and as a member of the national leadership. However, in 2008 with members of the New Democratic Party they returned to the Democratic Party where they merged both Parties. Sali Kelmendi died after a heart attack on 7 February 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelmendi, Sali 1947 births 2015 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Albania Democratic Party of Albania politicians Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana