Lulzim Basha (; born 12 June 1974) is an Albanian politician who served as the chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania, the main opposition party, from 2013 to March 21, 2022 when he stepped down from the leadership of the party. Basha was elected as chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania in September 2013 following the Democratic Party's electoral loss which sent them in the opposition. In 2021, he became the first opposition leader in Albanian history to lose two general elections in a row, although Basha claimed the losses came as a result of significant electoral interference by the ruling Socialist Party. With over 8 years at the helm of the Democratic Party of Albania, Lulzim Basha is the second longest serving chairman of the party after Sali Berisha, who was in charge for a total of 16 years. Early life and education Lulzim Basha was born in Tirana on 12 June 1974 to a Kosovo-Albanian mother and an Albanian father. From his mother's side, he is respectively from Mitrovica (grandfather) and Gjilan (grandmother). After attending the Sami Frashëri High School, he studied law at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and worked for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia as member of the investigation team of war crimes of Serbian forces in Kosovo (1998–1999). In 2000, Basha joined the Department of Justice of the UN administration of Kosovo, UNMIK, first as legal advisor and then as Deputy Chief of Cabinet of the Director of the UNMIK Justice Department since October 2001. From November 2002 until January 2005 Basha served as special advisor for Transition in the same department. Lulzim Basha is married to Aurela Basha a Dutch citizen, and they have two daughters, Victoria and Dafina. Political career Basha joined the Democratic Party of Albania in January 2005 and became a member of the party's leadership in May of that year. He has since held several ministerial positions in Democratic Party-led governments. Berisha Cabinet (2005–2011) He served as the party's spokesperson during the 2005 parliamentary elections at which he was elected as the MP of Constituency #33 in Tirana. He was then nominated in the Berisha government as Minister of Public Works, Transport and Telecommunications, where he served for a period of two years. After the 2009 election, Basha was nominated as Ministry of Internal Affairs in the new Berisha government. As Minister of Interior,