Erion Veliaj is the mayor of the city of Tirana, the capital of Albania. He first took office in 2015 and was re-elected to his third term in May 2023. From 2013 to 2015, he served as a member of Albania’s parliament and the minister of social welfare and youth. Before joining Albania’s Socialist Party in 2011, Veliaj led the youth movement MJAFT, a civic organization that he founded in 2003 and that inspired the peaceful protest of social and political injustices. He has also worked with international humanitarian organizations in the Americas, eastern Africa and Kosovo. Veliaj holds a master’s degree in European integration from the University of Sussex in Great Britain and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Grand Valley State University in Michigan.