With 65 votes in favor and 3 against (out of a total of 120 members) its parliament North Macedonia yesterday evening elected Talat Jafferi as caretaker prime minister of the country.
THE 62-year-old politician is the first member of the Albanian minority elected to lead the government of North Macedonias. He will be the prime minister of the country for the next 100 days. Albanians make up 25% of the population of North Macedonia.
Until yesterday the prime minister of the country, Dimitar Kovacevski resigned from the office due to the electoral legislation of North Macedonia, which provides that 100 days before the holding of parliamentary elections, a caretaker government is formed to lead the country to the polls. Parliamentary elections will be held on May 8, so according to the schedule, the caretaker government should have been appointed yesterday, Sunday.
According to an agreement three and a half years ago between the co-ruling parties Social Democratic Union (SDSM) led by ousted prime minister and current SDSM leader Dimitar Kovačevski and the Albanian DUI led by Ali Ahmeti, the head of the caretaker government would be a person nominated by the DUI.
Tthe latter chose for this position the until yesterday speaker of the Parliament of North Macedonia, Talat Xhaferi, a high-ranking official of the DUI. He will be the first Albanian prime minister in the country's history, even for 100 days.
In the caretaker government, there are no major changes in persons compared to the failed government of Dimitar Kovacevsky, with the exception of two portfolios: the ministries of interior and labor, which were taken over by the opposition right-wing party VMRO-DPMNE, as according to the legislation, the caretaker government includes opposition, so that it is as representative as possible.
However, VMRO-DPMNE, despite the fact that it decided to participate in the caretaker government, abstained from yesterday's vote in Parliament to provide a vote of confidence in the caretaker government: it considers Talat Jafferi “unfit” for the country's prime minister.
However, he is now the prime minister of the third caretaker government of North Macedonia, starting in 2016.
Talat Xhaferi was first elected Speaker of the House on 27 April 2017, in an episodic session of the House, amid strong protests by VMRO-DPMNE MPs, which was marred by the invasion of Parliament by hundreds of Nikola Gruevski supporters and the beating of SDSM MPs and Albanian parties. Those episodes worked as a catalyst for Gruevski's removal from power and the emergence of a new government, with Zoran Zaev as prime minister.
Last speaker at yesterday's meeting of the Parliament for the nomination of the interim government of the country was the leader of the Albanian DUI party Ali Ahmadi, who spoke of a “historic day”: as he said, it is the first time in the country's history that a prime minister is elected by the country's ethnic Albanian community.
Parliamentary elections on May 8 will coincide with the second round of presidential elections in North Macedoniawhich is considered a given, since none of the candidates is expected to gather more than 50% in the first round, on April 24.
Talat Jaferi replaces Dimitar Kovacevsky as Prime Ministerwho took over as prime minister in January 2022, replacing Zoran Zaev, who had resigned as prime minister following the crushing defeat of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDSM) in the October 2021 municipal elections.
Source: News Beast
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