Since the establishment of the Albanian state on November 28, 1912, Albania has tried several models of governance, including international protectorate, monarchy, party-state regime, and parliamentary republic. During this period, the function of the President of the Republic and the President of the State was exercised in different forms.

In 1912, the first government was created with Ismail Qemalin at the head, which also had the powers of the President of the State. On February 6, 1914, the Conference of Ambassadors appointed Prince Vilhelm Vid as the Head of the Albanian State. In the period September 1914 – January 1920, Albania became a battleground by changing several governments, where the duty of the Head of State was covered by different regency governments. On January 8, 1920, the Congress of Lushnja elected the High Council of 4 people, which would perform the functions of the President of the State, restoring parliamentarism. In 1924, Fan Noli was elected head of the government, also exercising the functions of the Head of State. After frequent changes in government, on January 31, 1925, the National Assembly approved the republican form of government and voted Ahmet Zogun as President of the Republic. On September 1, 1928, Albania was declared a Monarchy and Ahmet Zogu was declared King of the Albanians. After the invasion of Albania by Italy in April 1939 and the union of the two countries, Victor Emmanuel III became the King of Albania. The years 1943-’44 under the German occupation brought back the regency governments.

The end of the Second World War and the liberation of Albania in 1944 was accompanied by the first parliamentary elections in December 1945 and the transfer of the function of the President of the State to a collegial body, such as the Presidium of the People’s Assembly. In the period January 11, 1946 – December 12, 1990, during which Albania experienced the communist dictatorship, the functions of the President of the State were performed by Omer Nishani (January 10, 1946 – August 1, 1953), Haxhi Lleshi (August 1, 1953 – November 22, 1982) and Ramiz Alia (22 November 1982 – 22 February 1991). On February 22, 1991, the Presidential Council headed by Ramiz Alia was established, which exercised its functions until April 30, 1991.

On April 30, 1991, with the election of the first President of the Parliamentary Republic by a multi-party parliament, the Constitutional Institution of the President of the Republic was created.