31 Facts About Fatos Nano

Fatos Thanas Nano is an Albanian socialist politician who served as Prime Minister of Albania in 1991, from 1997 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2005.

Fatos Nano was the first leader and founder of the Socialist Party of Albania and a member of the Albanian Parliament from 1991 to 1993 and 1997 to 2009.

Fatos Nano reformed the anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist ideology of the Labour Party of Albania into social democracy for its successor, the Socialist Party.

Fatos Nano again tried in the 2012 presidential election, but he did not even qualify as a candidate, because the leaders of parties in Parliament obstructed their respective MPs to elect him as candidate in the elections.

Fatos Nano's parents were Thanas Nano, a former director of Albanian Radio Television, and Maria Nano, a government official from the same family as Dhimiter Shuteriqi.

Fatos Nano was the only male child among female siblings in the family.

Fatos Nano grew up in Hoxha Tahsim Street in East Tirana, attended and graduated from "Sami Frasheri" High School, reserved for the children of the nomenklatura.

Fatos Nano graduated in Political Economy from the University of Tirana in 1974.

From 1981 until 1984, Fatos Nano served as an economist at Priska's Agricultural Farm in Tirana.

When Fatos Nano was working in the Marxist-Leninist Institute, he was under the observation of Nexhmije Hoxha, Enver Hoxha's wife.

Fatos Nano began his political career in December 1990, where he was first appointed as Secretary General of the Council of Ministers.

Fatos Nano was right about this, because the government of the Democratic Party permitted the notorious Ponzi schemes which resulted in the unrest of 1997 where the majority of Albanians lost their savings, instead of effective economical reforms.

On 30 July 1993 Fatos Nano was arrested in the office of the Prosecutor, and charged with "abuse of duty and the falsification of official documents in connection with Italian aid" following the use of a single vendor which overcharged and delivered foodstuffs which were unfit for consumption.

On 3 April 1994, Fatos Nano was sentenced to twelve years in prison.

Fatos Nano was considered a political prisoner by the Socialist Party of Albania, Amnesty International, Human Right Watch, Inter-Parliamentary Union, and other groups, so he was let to be the chairman of it.

The "Motion for Debate", requested by Fatos Nano, required, to implement the recommendations made by State Department, European Parliament and European Council, for the solution of the political and institutional crisis, as official stance of the Socialist Party, to propose the Congress to remove Marxist and statist concepts from the party's statute and programme, to deny Vladimir Lenin and Comintern and rehabilitate Karl Kautsky and Second Internationale.

Berisha called untimely parliamentary elections on 29 June and he decreed a general amnesty to all prisoners in March 1997; Fatos Nano too was released from prison.

Fatos Nano was found innocent by a court in Tirana for his alleged abuse of power and corruption in 1999.

The government of Fatos Nano was viewed by Turkey as having a pro-Greek orientation and expressed some dissatisfaction, though during that time, it still maintained close military relations with Albania in rebuilding its armed forces and a military base.

On 28 September 1998 Fatos Nano chose to resign and retired from political life.

In early 2002, Fatos Nano unsuccessfully tried to run for President of Albania, but on 25 July 2002, he was appointed by newly elected president Alfred Moisiu as prime minister for the third time.

Just days after retaking office in August 2002, Fatos Nano came under attack by leading Italian weekly L'Espresso, which accused him of having ties to international organized-crime groups, and having been involved in a cigarette-smuggling ring with Naples-based mobsters.

Fatos Nano sued the magazine in a court in Rome which ruled in favor of Fatos Nano.

Fatos Nano resigned as prime minister and as the chairman of the Socialist Party on 1 September 2005.

Fatos Nano rarely appears for interviews on some political talk shows.

In early 2007, Fatos Nano met with Sali Berisha to counter appeals from the Socialist Party to boycott the 2007 local government elections, which would have triggered untimely parliamentary elections.

Fatos Nano was elected candidate for President in the Presidential Elections of 2007 by the request of 20 Socialist MPs.

Fatos Nano received only three votes, while Bamir Topi of the Democratic Party won 75 votes.

However, the parliament still failed to elect a president, with Fatos Nano getting five votes and Topi receiving 74.

Fatos Nano tried again to run for president in 2012, but he did not even qualify for candidacy because the leaders parties in Parliament obstructed their respective MPs to elect him as a candidate.

Fatos Nano was elected as a member of parliament from the districts of Tirana in 1991, Kucove in 1992, Tepelene in 1997 and 2001, and Sarande in 2005.