December 29 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's president Stevo Pendarovski said on Wednesday it tasked the new leader of ruling left-wing SDSM party Dimitar Kovacevski with forming the country's new government, following the resignation of prime minister Zoran Zaev.
Kovacevski will form a new government with support from the political parties which are part of a SDSM-led coalition and control the majority of seats in parliament among themselves, the president said in a statement.
Zaev submitted his resignation to parliament speaker Talat Dzaferi on December 22, forcing the government comprising the SDSM-led coalition Mozeme and the Albanian Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) to step down. Zaev announced in October he will resign from the position of prime minister after SDSM suffered a defeat in the local elections.
SDSM elected Kovacevski its new chairman and nominated him for the position of prime minister earlier this month. The party also reached an agreement with small opposition ethnic Albanian party Alternative to form a new majority in parliament after Besa, a junior partner in Mozeme, withdrew its support for a new SDSM-led cabinet. Under the agreement, Alternative will name the new ministers of health, information society and administration, a minister without portfolio in charge of diaspora and three deputy ministers in the new government, and take over the management of a number of public institutions.
Alternative holds four seats in the 120-seat parliament, while Besa has three.
Zaev's coalition cabinet comprising Mozeme and DUI was voted into office in August 2020 by 62 MPs.