January 23 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia’s prime minister Dimitar Kovacevski said on Tuesday that he will submit his resignation to parliament on Thursday, opening the way for the formation of a caretaker government that will organise presidential and general elections in line with a decision of the main political parties.
The entire government will automatically step down alongside Kovacevski on Thursday, the prime minister told a press conference streamed on the government's YouTube channel.
In December, the leaders of the biggest parties represented in North Macedonia's parliament agreed to hold presidential and general elections in the spring. The first round of presidential elections will be held on April 24, and the second round, along with general elections, is scheduled for May 8.
Parliament speaker Talat Xhaferi will head the caretaker government, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) said in December.
The ruling left-wing SDSM party agreed to the appointment of an ethnic Albanian prime minister in a caretaker cabinet as part of a deal with DUI to form a coalition at the previous elections in 2020.
Kovacevski was named prime minister and leader of SDSM in 2022, replacing Zoran Zaev, who resigned after the party suffered a defeat in the local elections.