Zoran Zaev

The office of Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov on Monday said the obstacles preventing him from awarding a mandate to the opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev had not been removed.

This is despite calls by the opposition and the international community for the President not to further delay the formation of a new government.

Leader of Macedonia's opposition SDSM party Zoran Zaev on Friday in Skopje presented "the program of the new government" which, he said, will soon be formed.

Zaev said that he would submit a new draft law on languages, and that it must be "strictly in accordance with the Constitution."

In a lengthy expose held in the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party in Skopje, party leader Zoran Zaev on Friday said his new government platform would "strictly abide" by the terms of the constitution, guaranteeing the country's unity, sovereignty and stability.

Leader of Macedonia's opposition SDSM party Zoran Zaev on Friday in Skopje presented "the program of the new government" which, he said, will soon be formed.

Zaev said that he would submit a new draft law on languages, and that it must be "strictly in accordance with the Constitution."

FYROM (Macedonia) is sinking deeper and deeper into a severe political and institutional crisis. Three months on from snap parliamentary elections held in December, a new government still hasn't been formed. Speaking to Sputnik, Svetin Chilimanov, former advisor to the Macedonian president, warned that the crisis may lead to the country's disintegration.

A spokesperson for the ethnic Albanian DUI party in Macedonia (FYROM) says Zoran Zaev's SDSM is ready to vote in favor of a genocide lawsuit against Serbia.

According to Bujar Osmani, the lawsuit would concern "genocide committed against Albanians between two wars."

Regional experts in Albania and Kosovo have dismissed claims that Tirana and Pristina have played a role in fomenting the crisis in Macedonia, following highly-charged accusations of interference made in Macedonia and the Serbian media.

The media in Serbia are following the crisis in Macedonia with intense interest, training their fire aggressively on the so-called "Albanian Platform" - a set of Albanian conditions for their participation in any new Macedonian government. 

One of the key points of the platform concerns extending the official use of the Albanian language.

SDSM leader Zoran Zaev has defended the Tirana Platform of ethnic Albanian parties in Macedonia to form a government with his party.

The main ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, has formally decided to participate in a future government led by the opposition leader Zoran Zaev, and has urged the country's President to revoke his veto on the Social Democrats leading a new administration.