North Macedonia’s Opposition Claims New Parliament Majority

Opposition leader Hirstijan Mickoski's right-wing VMRO DPMNE party, their Albanian coalition partners Alliance for Albanians and Alternative, alongside the small opposition Levica party, and the ethnic Albanian BESA party, who has just defected from the current government ranks, came together to form a new majority in North Macedonia's parliament.

"The new majority means one thing for sure, that this government of [Zoran] Zaev, who is the source of all problems, is crumbling," Micksoki told a press conference on Saturday.

With a list of 61 MPs in the 120-seat parliament, who banded together with the single goal to topple Zaev's cabinet, Mickoski said that there are now two options at play.

"This means that in the period that follows I will try, I repeat will try, to form a new government. That will happen only if I am sure that this will be a government with firm political credibility and efficiency needed to tackle the serious challenges ahead. If this does not happen… then what remains as the only option are quick parliamentary elections," Mickoski said.

The key factor tipping the scale in the opposition's favour was the defection of the small Albanian BESA party, whose four MPs provided support for Zaev's ruling majority that has rest on 62 legislators, on Friday.

After BESA's leader Bilal Kasami won the mayoral race in Tetovo last Sunday, this party will now have three MPs. Kasami's seat as MP will be replaced by the Social Democrats, as these parties had a joint list at the previous general elections in 2020.

Last Sunday, PM Zoran Zaev plunged his governing alliance into uncharted waters, when he unexpectedly said he would resign both from his PM post and from the helm of the main ruling Social Democrats, citing bad...