North Macedonia: Prime Minister Kovacevski resigns – a first for an Albanian Prime Minister

North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski will submit his resignation on Thursday morning, he announced today.

With the resignation of the Prime Minister, the country's government also resigns. By the end of the week, an interim prime minister and a caretaker government will be appointed in the country.

Development resulting from electoral legislation in North Macedonia

This development comes as a result of electoral legislation in North Macedonia, according to which a caretaker government is formed 100 days before the parliamentary elections, to lead the country until the parliamentary elections.

Parliamentary elections in North Macedonia are scheduled for May 8. This means that a caretaker government will be formed by Sunday, January 28 at the latest, which must receive a vote of confidence from the country's parliament.

Based on a political agreement between the two ruling parties “Social Democratic Union” (SDSM), led by Dimitar Kovacevski, and the Albanian Identity Document, led by Ali Ahmeti, this interim government will be headed by a person nominated by the Albanian party and for the first time in the country’s history, since 1991 when it gained its independence. The country will have an Albanian prime minister, even for 100 days.

The DUI suggested that the current Prime Minister be the current Speaker of Parliament and a high-ranking official of this Albanian party, Talat Javeri.

The opposition will also participate in the interim government

According to electoral legislation, the opposition also participates in this interim government with two ministers from its ranks (Interior and Labor). These ministers will be nominated by the main opposition party, the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE. But this party, although it has decided to participate in the caretaker government, will, as it said, abstain from voting in Parliament to present a vote of confidence in the caretaker government, because it considers Talaat al-Jaafari “inappropriate.” The country's prime minister, who he claims is “a symbol of the corruption of the outgoing government.”

Dimitar Kovacevski said that until Sunday, January 28, there is time for everyone to sit down, think responsibly, and vote for the caretaker government.

He said, “No one can act like a 13-year-old child and say, 'I will nominate ministers, but I will not vote. Everyone must be serious. Nowhere in the world will you find an example in which someone nominates ministers and asks another person to vote for them,'” he said. Dimitar Kovacevski noted.

Who is Talaat Al-Jaafari?

Interim Prime Minister is 62-year-old Talat Jhaveri, who has been Speaker of the Parliament of North Macedonia since 2017, while in 2013-2014 he served as Minister of Defense in the VMRO-DPMNE – DUI Coalition, whose Prime Minister was Nikola Gruevski. . SDSM parliamentary representative Jovan Mitrevski will be appointed as the new Speaker of Parliament.

Talat Jhaveri was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the first time on 27 April 2017, in a cross session of the House, amid strong protests by VMRO-DPMNE deputies, which were marred by hundreds of Nikola Gruevski's supporters storming Parliament and beating his deputies. SDSM and Albanian parties. These events served as an incentive for Gruevski's removal from power and the formation of a new government, headed by Zoran Zaev.

Albanians make up 25% of the population of North Macedonia.

The parliamentary elections scheduled for next May 8 will coincide with the second round of the presidential elections in North Macedonia, which is taken for granted, as, as expected, none of the candidates for the presidential seat will obtain more than 50% in the first round. Which will be held on April 24.

Res-EMP