The Communist Party changed its name and relinquished almost a half-century of absolute power, joining opposition parties in the country's first coalition government in a bid to secure the political stability needed to rebuild the blighted economy.
The Communist-controlled, 450-member National Assembly Wednesday approved the 22-member Cabinet presented by Prime Minister Ylli Bufi, 42, a veteran Marxist apparachik tapped by President Ramiz Alia last week.Under a power-sharing accord, the Cabinet consists of 12 members of Alia's party, seven from the main opposition organization, the Democratic Party, two from the Republican Party and one from the Social-Democratic Party.
One of the founders of the pro-Western Democratic Party, Gramoz Pashko, the 36-year-old son of high-ranking Communists, was sworn in as deputy prime minister and minister for economics. Pashko is an advocate of radical reform of Albania's moribund Marxist-style economy.
Former air force pilot Pirikli Peta, a member of the Democratic Party, was made Albania's first non-Communist defense minister. An unknown Communist, Bajram Yzeiri, took the important post of interior minister. The foreign trade portfolio went to Fatos Nano, the reform-minded Communist who resigned as prime minister on June 4.