North Macedonia Must Avoid Snap Elections: Albanian Party Leader

Bilall Kasami, leader of ethnic Albanian party Besa (Pledge of Honour), told BIRN in an interview the day after he was confirmed as the mayor of Tetovo that North Macedonia should avoid new snap elections after his coalition government partner Social Democratic Prime Minister Zoran Zaev resigned following his party's poor performance in the weekend's municipal polls.

Kasami maintained that there was no reason for Zaev to take such an extreme step and quit the leadership of the governing coalition, of which Besa is part. The party has four MPs in the 120-seat parliament.

"We have to make a clear distinction between local and parliamentary elections. In parliamentary elections, a mandate is taken to lead the government for four years, while in local elections we're concerned with local government and the topics are completely different," he said.

"I think this government and this parliament should end their four-year term because we have strategic goals towards the full integration of North Macedonia into the EU, the same as we wanted integration into NATO," he added.

Kasami believes that it was the lofty but so far unfulfilled ambitions of North Macedonia's government that got Zaev in trouble with voters.

For months, the country has been in limbo awaiting a start date for EU accession talks, blocked from beginning negotiations by its eastern neighbour Bulgaria, which has raised issues about the North Macedonia's history, language and identity, which it insists have Bulgarian roots. Skopje has responded that it cannot compromise over sensitive issues such as national identity.

"The delays that were made to getting the date for the opening of the accession talks with the EU as the result of Bulgaria's blockade were crucial,"...