Dimitar Kovacevski, the new leader of North Macedonia’s ruling Socialists, said on Tuesday that he had been confirmed by his party as the country’s prime minister-designate following Zoran Zaev’s formal resignation as premier last week, reported Reuters.
President Stevo Pendarovski gave Kovacevski a mandate to form a new government after his ruling SDSM proposed him as the prime minister-designate late on Monday, the news portal Faktor reported.
Last week, Zaev formally filed his resignation to parliament after he resigned as SDSM leader following his party’s loss in mayoral elections in October.
Under the constitution, Kovacevski should form the new cabinet which has the backing of 64 deputies in the 120-seat parliament in 20 days.
Parliament speaker Talat Dzaferi said that a vote for a new government will be probably scheduled for Jan. 15 or 16, media reported.
The future government faces challenges from both the coronavirus pandemic and an energy crisis declared last month due to lack of domestic electricity production and price hikes across Europe.
In addition, North Macedonia, which joined NATO last year, wants to join the European Union but Bulgaria objects because of disputes over history and linguistics.
The EU has not given North Macedonia the green light for membership negotiations yet.
The same thing is happening with Albania which hoped to start the accession talks within 2021.
