North Macedonia’s Battle Over New Majority Unsettles Albanian Parties

As the political fight to form a new majority escalates ahead of a no-confidence vote, due on Thursday, each MP in North Macedonia's various ethnic Albanian parties feels a kingmaker.

The main right-wing opposition VMRO DPMNE party on Monday filed a no-confidence motion in the government of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Monday, sticking to its promise to do so unless Zaev resigned by the 2.30pm ultimatum it gave him.

But, as each individual MP may tip the vote one way or another, uncertainty over whether a new majority will be formed continues.

Skender Rexhepi, MP from the small opposition "Alternative" party, on Monday raised eyebrows when he announced he had been duped into signing the opposition initiative, not knowing he would be on the same list as another small party, Levica.

"Under no circumstances will I accept to see my signature standing on the same list with the signatures of those who have built their political careers by offending Albanians," Rexhepi told TV 21, referencing the large ethnic Albanian community.

Levica took a firm stand against the 2001 Ohrid peace accord, which ended an ethnic Albanian insurgency in exchange for greater rights. It also opposed recognition of neighbour Kosovo's independence and joining NATO, which the country accomplished in 2020.

But Ziadin Sela, MP and head of the Alliance for Albanians, and a staunch opponent of Zaev's junior ethnic Albanian partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, scorned Rexhepi's claims of ignorance.

"When in trouble, a person tries to find non-grounded justifications and lies. Nobody [on the list of signatures seeking a vote of no confidence] is a child and everyone knows that the list that has been signed was made to topple the...