Political crisis in Northern Macedonia, after Zaef’s resignation

THE Zoran Zaef’s resignation last night from the office of its Prime Minister Northern Macedonia after the heavy defeat of his party in the second round of the municipal elections causes a political crisis in the country, the duration and intensity of which is still unknown.

According to APE BPE, Zaef – Prime Minister of the country since May 2017 and leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDSM) since 2013 – stated that he fully undertakes the responsibility for this failure and resigns as prime minister of the country and president of the ruling SDSM.

According to the current provisions, Prime Minister Zoran Zaef must submit officially his resignation to the Speaker of Parliament, something he has not done so far. Zaef’s resignation automatically means the resignation of his government.

When Zaef formally submits his resignation, Parliament confirms at its first sitting, without debate, that the term of the current government and the Prime Minister has ended. Immediately after, the Speaker of the Parliament informs the President of the Republic, who starts them exploratory mandates to form a new government. The President of the Republic gives the mandate to form a government to the party’s candidate for Prime Minister or parties that can secure a majority in Parliament. Then, the incumbent Prime Minister within 20 days from the day of the assignment of the mandate must submit to the Parliament the program and the composition of his government and ask for a vote of confidence.

If the search commands fail, then most likely dissolution of Parliament and the announcing early parliamentary elections.

The scenarios for the next day

The resignation of Zoran Zaef from the post of Prime Minister does not necessarily mean the holding of early parliamentary elections in Northern Macedonia. Zaef himself, in his resignation statement, reiterated that the current government still has 2.5 years to complete her term and must continue her work.

The current government has a parliament majority, albeit a small one (supported by 62 of the 120 members of the country’s legislature). Therefore, the ruling coalition parties in consultation with each other could appoint a new prime minister to replace Zaef. However, such a government, as commented in Skopje, would not be long-winded.

However, it is not ruled out that some – or some – smaller parties in the ruling coalition may withdraw their confidence in the current government and “jump»To the opposition and VMRO-DPMNE, which, in this case, could lead a new government without elections.

In case neither of the above two scenarios “succeeds”, then it remains to call early parliamentary elections in the country. In this case, according to the current legislation, a caretaker government must be formed 100 days before the elections, which will lead the country to the elections.

VMRO calls for early recourse to the polls

It is pointed out that VMRO prevailed in 42 municipalities, the SDSM in just 16.

In yesterday’s second round of municipal elections, Zoran Zaef’s Social Democratic Party (SDSM) lost both in the metropolitan area of Skopje, as well as in all the other large municipalities of the country, in which ballot boxes were set up.

The big winner of these municipal elections was undoubtedly the right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE, whose leader, Christian Mickowski, late last night said that the best solution for the country is early recourse to the polls.

These municipal elections were held for the election of mayors and municipal councils in 80 municipalities in the country and in the metropolitan municipality of Skopje.

In total, VMRO-DPMNE prevailed in 42 municipalities, SDSM in 16 and the largest Albanian party in the country, DUI in 10 municipalities. In the other municipalities, candidates won smaller parties and independent candidates.

From the 81 new mayors, the 79 are men and just two women.