Albania's ex-president Sali Berisha, who was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday after eight years in opposition, has tried to shed his former authoritarian style and open his Democratic Party to new blood. He was president when Albania slid into chaos in 1997 after collapsing pyramid investment schemes wiped out $1 billion of savings, but has since apologised for past failings and remodelled himself from firebrand populist to soft-spoken statesman. A reputation for incorruptibility also contributed to the 60-year-old's victory in a July 3 general election over long-standing rival Socialist ex-Premier Fatos Nano. Albania's election commission only announced the victory for Berisha's Democratic Party on Sept. 1. Berisha and Nano have run Albania since it emerged from 40 years of Stalinist isolation in 1991. A French-trained cardiologist of the Stalinist elite, Berisha became an icon of the revolt that toppled communism in December 1990. He won a landslide victory in March 1992 to become Albania's first democratically-elected president. --more 2233 Local Time 1933 GMT
