Bashkim Fino is an Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

n politician and former Prime Minister of Albania.

Fino studied economics in Tirana and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. After this, he worked as an economist in Gjirokastër

Gjirokastër

Gjirokastër is a city in southern Albania with a population of 43,000. Lying in the historical region of Epirus, it is the capital of both the Gjirokastër District and the larger Gjirokastër County...

, and in 1992 became its mayor. He is married and has two children.

On the 11 March 1997 Democratic Party

Democratic Party of Albania

The Democratic Party of Albania is a center-right, Conservative, political party in Albania and the leading party in the governing coalition since the 2005 parliamentary elections...

 President Sali Berisha

Sali Berisha

Sali Ram Berisha is an Albanian politician and cardiologist, currently the Prime Minister of Albania and the leader of Democratic Party of Albania ....

 appointed Fino, a member of the opposition Socialist Party of Albania

Socialist Party of Albania

The Socialist Party of Albania , is a centre-left, social democraticand socially liberal political party in Albania, it is currently the leading opposition party in Albania. It seats 66 MPs in the 2009 Albanian parliament . It achieved power in 1997 after a political crisis and governmental...

, Prime Minister in order to lead a government of national unity. This came after rebellion broke out

1997 rebellion in Albania

The 1997 unrest in Albania, also known as the Lottery Uprising or Anarchy in Albania, was an uprising sparked by Ponzi scheme failures...

 over the collapse of several pyramid scheme

Pyramid scheme

A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public...

s leading to the government losing control of much of the country. Fino was Prime Minister through the 1997 elections

Albanian parliamentary election, 1997

Parliamentary elections were held in Albania on 29 June 1996 alongside a simultaneous referendum on restoring the monarchy, with a second round of voting for 32 seats on 6 July. The result was a victory for the Socialist Party of Albania, which won 101 of the 151 seats. Voter turnout was...

 where his Socialist Party won a large majority before he stepped down and was succeeded by his party leader Fatos Nano

Fatos Nano

Fatos Thanas Nano is an Albanian economist who was Prime Minister of Albania during several periods, the first leader of the Socialist Party of Albania, and member of the Albanian Parliament from 1991 to 1996 and 1997 to 2009...

.

Fino is currently a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 representing a constituency in Kuçovë

Kuçovë

Kuçovë is an Albanian city, capital of the Kuçovë District, with many parks and museums.-Ancient :Archaeologists found in the village of Katundas near Kuçovë six phases of inhabitation dating to the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, urban Illyrian and the Late Antiquity era.- Modern...

.