Zoran Zaev

Tragedy on "Struma" Highway: Passenger Bus Caught Fire, Leaving at least 46 Dead Including Children

The Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, who is on his way to Sofia, told MIA that he had talked to one of the survivors of the terrible accident on the Struma highway, who informed him that he had heard a loud explosion.

With the signing of the joint declaration with NATO, the process of military integration of the Republic of North Macedonia in the command structures and in the structure of the Alliance forces will be officially completed today, the electronic edition of the Nezavisen newspaper notes.

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.

North Macedonia's Social Democratic PM Zoran Zaev late Tuesday postponed his announced resignation indefinitely, to try to sustain the current fragile majority in parliament and get the country out of its political crisis.

A decision was made today to postpone both resignations. We neither debated nor decided on them. When I resigned on 31 October, I said that I would help maintain the parliamentary majority and work to increase it if possible. Such is the responsibility to the state and the people. It makes perfect sense to work on this process.

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.

North Macedonia's main opposition VMRO DPMNE party on Monday filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, sticking to its promise to do so unless Zaev resigned by the 2.30pm ultimatum it gave him.

The MP and VMRO DPMNE vice-president Aleksandar Nikolovski confirmed this at a press conference in Skopje.

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.

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.

The parliamentary majority behind the Social Democrat-led government is small but remains firm, all the government's partner parties insisted on Monday after meeting Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who has announced his resignation following the defeat of his party at Sunday's local elections.