TIRANA – The pro-Western Social Democratic Party Zoran Zaev, the man who ousted North Macedonia’s nationalist rulers and clinched a historic name deal with Greece, is back in power as prime minister after a coalition deal with the country’s Albanian minority party DUI, Ali Ahmeti.
Both leaders have said their partnership rests on resuming the country’s Euro-Atlantic path, and on continuing internal reforms.
Zaev resigned late last year after France temporarily blocked opening EU accession talks with Skopje despite the Greek breakthrough.
The agreement on a power-sharing deal between Zaev and Ahmeti came a month after a national election in which the Social Democrats won the most support but didn’t elect enough lawmakers to the 120-seat parliament to govern alone.
“I would like to congratulate Ahmeti for the wisdom shown during the coalition talks, all for securing a better future for the country and its citizens,” Zaev told a press conference after talks with Ahmeti on August 18.
For his part Ahmeti told the press conference that he is convinced “that we have made a positive deal and that this government will be the most successful so far”.
Under to the deal, the DUI’s Talat Xhaferi will keep the post of parliament speaker
The coalition talks were complicated by DUI’s demand that an ethnic Albanian should be appointed prime minister for the first time in North Macedonia’s history – a demand flatly rejected during election campaigning by both the Social Democrats and the center-right VMRO-DPMNE party that came second in the July 15 vote
The power-sharing deal foresees Zaev handing the prime minister’s office over to an ethnic Albanian politician proposed by DUI a hundred days before the next election.
The Social Democrats-led alliance won a tight victory at the July 15 early elections, taking 46 seats in the 120-seat parliament, just two more than their bitter political rivals, the right-wing VMRO DPMNE party, which won 44.
The Social Democrats’ partners in the last government, the DUI, kept their crown in the ethnic Albanian bloc by winning 15 seats, while their rivals from the opposition coalition between the Alliance for Albanians and the Alternativa party won 12 seats.
Together the Social Democrats and the DUI now control 61 MPs and have a simple majority. Another MP from the small Democratic Party of Albanians will also join the ruling majority. However, it has not been ruled out that some of the other smaller parties may also yet join them to strengthen the majority./argumentum.al
