 |
| Talat Xhaferi sitting at his desk and behind him the flags of NATO, EU and North Macedonia |
As of January 28th of next year, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia will be appointed Talat Xhaferi, the current speaker of the Parliament in this country.
This decision was announced by the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) on Friday, following the central leadership meeting of this party.
BDI stated that this fulfills its promise of having the first Albanian Prime Minister in North Macedonia.
Talat Xhaferi will lead the interim government, a practice since 2016, with the responsibility of organizing and overseeing parliamentary and presidential elections.
The parliamentary elections next year, as per the political party agreement reached on December 4th, will be held on May 8th. On the same day, the second round of presidential elections will take place, following the first round on April 24th.
The 100-day interim government before the parliamentary elections was an agreement among the parties, after the fall from power of Nikola Gruevski, who was accused of numerous electoral abuses in the past.
However, there was another agreement, reached on August 18, 2020, between former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and the leader of BDI, Ali Ahmeti, for an Albanian to lead the interim government.
The Macedonian opposition, led by VMRO DPMNE, has opposed the appointment of Talat Xhaferi or any other BDI member to this position, accusing the party of involvement in organized crime and corruption.
This party had proposed the removal of the interim government and for the current Prime Minister's mandate to continue until the holding of new elections.
The opposition VMRO-DPMNE is also expected to be represented in the interim government with ministers of Internal Affairs and Labor and Social Policy, as well as three deputy ministers for Finance, Agriculture, and Informative Society and Administration. It is not yet known who the members of the opposition party in the new government will be.
The date for holding the new parliamentary and presidential elections is expected to be decreed by the Speaker of the Parliament, Talat Xhaferi, by the end of December.