In 1946 he was sent to the Soviet Union as a student. In 1948 he graduated from the military engineering school in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad). He served in Tirana as a platoon-commander at the United Officers' School (1948–1949) and as a teacher at the Military Academy (1949–1951). From 1952 to 1958 he attended the Academy of Military Engineering in Moscow, graduating with a Golden Medal (a distinction for excellent study). Moisiu was elected by the People's Assembly by a vote of 97 to 19 (with 14 abstentions) and he was sworn in for a five-year term as president on July 24, 2002.