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TIRANA, Albania (AP) - President Bujar Nishani has named Edi Rama as Albania's prime minister, giving him the mandate to create a new Cabinet after a landslide victory by Rama's Socialist Party-led leftist coalition in June elections.
Rama, 49, will create a 20-member Cabinet together with the Socialist Movement for Integration Party of Ilir Meta, 44, who was elected Parliament speaker on Tuesday.
The leftist alliance campaigned against widespread corruption and on a pledge to take Albania closer to European Union membership, winning 83 of Parliament's 140 seats.
The president has up to 10 days to approve the other 19 Cabinet members.
Under Albania's electoral system, Parliament's mandate expires more than two months after a parliamentary election. The outgoing government continues operating in the interim.
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