North Macedonia MP Dispels ‘Kidnapping’ Claims

In North Macedonia's parliament on Monday, MP Kastriot Rexhepi said his absence from last Thursday's session, which aborted a planned vote of no confidence in the government had been his own decision. He had not been "kidnapped", as frustrated opposition lawmakers suggested. He had simply wanted to avoid unwarranted publicity.

"On the day of the vote [Thursday] I frivolously took a hideout at a friend's place in order not to allow the country to take a wrong direction, contrary to my beliefs," Rexhepi said.

The no-show by the MP from the small ethnic Albanian BESA party foiled Thursday's opposition attempt to topple the Social Democratic government of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. The opposition crucially lacked just one MP to start the session and take the vote.

In a dramatic atmosphere, the opposition spent much of the day trying to learn the whereabouts of Rexhepi, but after he posted a video message on Facebook saying that he is well and that he had simply changed his mind about joining the vote, some said he had either been kidnapped or blackmailed not to attend, which the ruling parties denied.

"We are not a Scandinavian country," Rexhepi added, explaining that in hiding, he had started receiving threats on his mobile phone, which he later reported to the police.

Rexhepi is one of the three MPs from the BESA party, which last week switched sides, abandoning the Social Democrats and joining the opposition in backing a no-confidence vote.

Without BESA's three MPs, it initially seemed that the days of the Zaev government were numbered, as it relied on a thin majority of just 62 MPs in the 120-seat parliament.

Explaining why he initially signed the opposition initiative, but later changed his mind, Rexhepi insisted...